The Sins of the Father, The Deeds of the Son
by supercode
Summary: Alternate Season 2. Oliver/Isabel. When Isabel returned to Starling City, she did so with one goal: To destroy Oliver Queen and everything he loves. But when events occur that cause her to reevaluate her opinion of Oliver and his family, will that be enough to change her plans, and the destiny of her and her nemesis, for the better, or will she still be doomed to die a villainess?
1. First Impressions: Part 1

**Author's note: I am not going to have an author's note (AN) at the beginning of every chapter, because I will generally keep those at the end of chapters. However, given that the Oliver/Isabel pairing (which I have just decided to call Olibel for the safe of brevity from now on) for this show is…unpopular to say the least on this site (for obvious reasons), I decided I would spend a little time here explaining why I chose to risk inspiring the ire of countless Arrow and Olicity fans by writing a story based off of that pairing. To put it simply, I'm writing it because I thought Isabel was an interesting character with an intriguing backstory that was underutilized on the show (in half of the episodes in season 2 it seems like her existence wasn't even acknowledged). Also, I am a big Summer Glau fan, and that definitely had something to do with my motivation for writing this story. However, the primary reason I wrote a story with this peculiar pairing is simple. To my knowledge, no one else, on the entire internet, has done so. Like many fans of Arrow, I actually like the idea of Olicity more, but so many stories have been done with that pairing already on this site, and many of those stories are far better than anything I could ever write. So instead I decided to write my first Arrow fanfic with a pairing that is a little more…twisted. Although I hope by the end of this story, I hope you will all find it delightfully so. I hope you enjoy this story, but honest reviews help me to stay on my toes, so constructive criticism is appreciated. Flames however, will be ignored. Also, I have not seen any of season 3 yet, so this fanfic will not spoil for that season, or acknowledge any of the events that take place then. Now that all that is over, I hope you enjoy "The Sins of the Father, The Deeds of the Son" (TSFTDS)!**

Isabel Rochev smirked as she watched Oliver Queen, heir to Queen Consolidated (at least for the next 24 hours or so) talk with some blonde girl with glasses that the Vice President of Acquisitions for Stellmoor International guessed was probably his secretary. From the nervous look on the blonde woman's face (who Isabel guessed, based upon Oliver's reputation, the man was probably screwing), Oliver and whatever friends he still had didn't have any way of combating the hostile takeover of Queen Consolidated by Stellmoor International, the front company that Slade Wilson had set up and, with her help, built on the backs of a dozen broken companies over the past five years just to achieve this moment. And that thought almost made Isabel smile. Finally, that rich little brat, who, along with his sister, who had cost her the love of her life, would begin to pay for everything he had taken from her, and whatever he had done to her business partner, Slade Wilson. Mr. Wilson had warned her not to underestimate Oliver Queen, but from what Ms. Rochev had heard of the man so far, he wouldn't be all that hard to dethrone from his spot as the head of his father's company. So Queen Consolidated would soon be hers, as it should have been ever since Robert Queen died.

When Oliver Queen first entered the room, he did little to dispel Isabel's low expectations of the man, although she found some of the blonde haired man's gestures, the way he looked around the room when he entered it, and the way he shook her hand, to be…unnervingly familiar. And the man spoke with a quiet intensity that Isabel had only seen exhibited by one other man. But the woman was able to quickly put those thoughts aside after reminding herself that the man in front of her was nothing like his father, despite having a few similar mannerisms as that man. After all, if Oliver Queen were half the man his father was, he wouldn't have allowed his company to be put into such dire straits by taking such a long absence from Queen Consolidated. Not allowing any of those thought processes to be betrayed by her face, which bore the "ice queen" facade that she had perfected over the years, Isabel smirked as she explained to Oliver Queen just how and why his company was going to fall into her hands, and that there was absolutely nothing that he could do about it.

But then, two things happened which forced to reevaluate her opinion of the playboy college dropout in front of her. First, for a brief moment, Oliver Queen's eyes met her own, and those eyes were filled with an intensity that frightened her as they almost seemed to stare right through her, into her very soul. For almost a second, Isabel irrationally worried that Oliver Queen might be able to guess what she was planning, just by looking at her. And before Isabel could shrug off that uncomfortable thought, the second major thing happened, as several men with guns entered the board room, and all hell broke loose as the armed men proclaimed they would make Oliver Queen pay for their crimes against this city. Isabel didn't stick around long after that happened, but before she was able to flee to safety, Oliver acted in a manner that Isabel would never have expected a spoiled rich boy to act, as the man shielded her, his business rival, and the woman who was threatening to take over his company, with his own body and got her to safety, before turning around to save his secretary. As Ms. Rochev ran, she couldn't help but think that Oliver Queen was not quite what she had expected to be. When faced with death, the man had not thought of himself and his own survival first, as most men born with silver spoons in their mouths would. Instead, he had saved her, and attempted to save his secretary. Two acts which, Isabel had to admit, had been quite brave, perhaps even "heroic", but Isabel also mentally added the word "stupid" to that list Still, it seemed to her that, if Mr. Queen actually survived his encounter with the gunmen (and Isabel certainly hoped he would, so that the man could live long enough to suffer when everything he loved was ripped away from him), he might prove to be a more formidable opponent than she had anticipated. And that thought made Isabel smile as she tried to shake off the memory of the unnerving look that Oliver had given her, and how it left her feeling completely exposed in a way that had been almost terrifying and yet, somehow, not altogether unpleasant. After all, she did enjoy a challenge.

….

Less than 48 hours later, Isabel found herself silently ruminated over the old saying, "be careful what you wish for." It seemed appropriate here. After all, she had secretly wanted taking down Oliver Queen to be a challenge. And it seemed that Mr. Queen had been more than happy to conform to her wishes in that regard, as the man had effectively blocked her takeover of Queen consolidated… for the time being.

Now, after the fact, Isabel sat down in her new private office and thought over the events of her first two meetings with Oliver Queen. That meeting had seemed to start so well, as she had once again explained to the young heir that his company was doomed, adding that she already owned 50% of the company, and was about to buy the 5% she still needed to take over Queen Consolidated completely. But then, once again, Oliver Queen had done something unexpected, and notified Isabel that he had asked for financial help from Mr. Walter Steele, the former CEO of Queen Consolidated, who revealed himself to be the new CEO of Starling National Bank. And it seemed that, with a loan from Walter's bank, Oliver Queen had been able to buy the remaining 5% of Queen Consolidated.

So, it seemed to Isabel that, as she had told Oliver herself a few hours ago, "You are not at all what people say about you." And that thought, as well as the fact that she was now Oliver Queen's de facto business partner, gave her pause. For the man was not only nothing like the brainless billionaire playboy she had read about in the papers, he was also nothing like she had expected him to be. Oh, she had prepared herself to find out that Oliver had some of the same physical characteristics and somewhat charming mannerisms like those present in his father, and he did, in spades. And the female Co-CEO of Queen Consolidated had also expected the man to be inferior to his father in a number of ways. Oliver Queen hadn't disappointed her in that regard either. Given the man's initial lack of understanding concerning just how bad his company's position was in, and the fact that the man had taken a "sabbatical" who knows where while Queen Consolidated was going down in flames, the man was clearly less educated and more impulsive than Robert Queen had ever been. Neither of these things had surprised her. What had surprised Isabel, however, had been the revelation that, like his father, and despite his sub-par education, Oliver Queen was actually intelligent, as evidenced by the fact that he had actually thought of a way to counter her hostile takeover of the company for the time being.

But what had shocked Ms. Rochev the most, and what she was still trying to wrap her head around, was the fact that there were some characteristics of Oliver Queen had exhibited in her presence that distinguished him from his father that actually seemed to work to his advantage. The fact that Oliver had been humble enough to ask for help from his ex-stepfather, for example, had demonstrated that the man was not quite as proud as his father had been, as Isabel remembered that, to her knowledge, the man had never let anyone "give him a handout", as he had described, or help him with any of his own work related projects. Even her, his beloved intern, who had secretly been much more to the man, had never been allowed to help Robert Queen with any of his pet projects. And while that mindset had served Robert Queen well enough, it had would have been disastrous for Oliver if he had acted according to the same mindset over the last couple of days. But Oliver had not acted as his father would have, and he had actually asked for help. As a result, to Isabel's chagrin, the man was still Co-CEO of Queen Consolidated. Furthermore, the young man's heroics in the board room the other day demonstrated that Oliver Queen was impulsive, but they also indicated that he was far more courageous than Isabel had expected, a truth that was not lost on the ones who wrote the headlines of Starling City's local papers, who were now portraying the son of a mass murderer as a selfless hero for saving the life of not only his secretary, but also his business rival, from the hooded vigilantes that had attacked them. Frustratingly, those same papers placed surprisingly little emphasis on the fact that Oliver Queen had been the gunmen's target, and that the billionaire playboy's presence was the only reason anybody had been any danger that day to begin with. But what was even worse for Isabel was the fact that Oliver Queen had, potentially, saved her life. True, she still told herself that she hated the man, and she had rationalized that it was only because of the billionaire's proximity to her person at the time that she had been in any danger. But the fact remained that Oliver Queen, her nemesis who she had vowed to destroy after she had made him suffer as she had suffered after losing Robert, had saved her life. And that fact not only hurt Isabel's pride, it had also planted a small seed of doubt in her head, making her wonder if Robert would ever have done the same thing for her if she had ever been in danger during the far too brief amount of time she had known the man. Isabel had tried to shake that thought of and told herself that of course Robert would have risked himself to save her life if that had ever happened. After all, he had loved her like she had loved him, hadn't he? It wasn't the deceased man's fault that such a situation had never occurred. Yet that doubt still persisted, as Isabel couldn't help but wonder if the man who had been afraid to leave his loveless marriage to his cheating wife and make his relationship with his intern public would really have risked his life for her. What was worse, despite all of the reasons she had for hating Oliver Queen, she couldn't hate him for the particular action that had planted that doubt in her mind, since it had personally benefited her.

Yes, Isabel Rochev privately admitted to herself as she burned the midnight oil going over the large stack of invoices on her desk while her business partner, who had disappeared shortly after announcing his new "partnership" with her, was nowhere to be found, Oliver Queen was certainly an enigma, one that she hoped she would be able to unravel before she destroyed him. After all, like Slade had taught her, you could only truly defeat an enemy once you knew them as well as you knew yourself. So why was there a small voice in the back of her head telling her that it may be dangerous for her to get to know Oliver Queen too well? And why hadn't she been able to get the memory of the man she hated staring at her with that seemingly soul-piercing gray gaze out of her head? For the hundredth time that night, Isabel tried to shake those thoughts off and started going over invoices again. After all, if her absent business partner wasn't going to be around to get some work done around here, she knew she would have to do it all herself. Isabel Rochev smirked as she dived right back into her paperwork and thought to herself that, even though it wasn't 100% hers… yet, she now had a company to run.

**AN: Well, that's the end of chapter 1. Please keep in mind that I am planning for the early chapters of my story to mostly stay within canon (or something close to it), with some minor differences and some different perspectives on canon events, but there will be a major tipping point later, after which the story will go in direction completely different from the plot of the show. I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of my story! Remember, your reviews keep my writing skills sharp, so please help keep me on my toes and review! If nothing else, I would like to know if there are people who actually care enough to read this story.**


	2. First Impressions: Part 2

"Ahhh!" The former drug dealer prison escapee screamed in agony and fear as an arrow attached to a thin steel cord entered his leg, causing the man to collapse into the street in pain. Only a few feet behind the perp, a man wearing a green hood quickly rappelled down the side of a nearby building using his bow and one of his arrows before nimbly landing on his feet onto the street without stumbling forward so much as an inch. The hooded vigilante cursed. "Damn it!"

The com link in the hero's ear crackled to life, and the sound of another man's voice was emitted by the device just loud enough for the vigilante to hear. "What happened?! Don't tell me the scum bag who sold those drugs to children got away?!"

The hooded man sighed as he pulled the cable out the still screaming perp and used that same cable to tie the once and future convict to a nearby telephone pole after he made sure that the man's wound wasn't putting him or his leg in eminent danger, and told Felicity to contact Officer Lance to pick the lowlife up. "No, Diggle. I got him. I just sort of… shot him in the leg by accident, instead of tripping him up with a cable arrow like I was trying to. But he's fine, and I got him tied up for Officer Lance to apprehend."

The man on the other end of the line sighed. "You are seriously off your game tonight. That was the second time you missed a shot tonight, after you winged that gunrunner in the arm earlier. You need to get your head in the game!" Beneath the man's stern reprimand, however, was a tone of concern, which both he and Oliver knew also meant: "Are you okay?" But both men knew that thought didn't need to be voiced aloud.

A woman on the other end of the vigilante's line, however, being the nervous rambler that she was, spoke that thought anyway. "Are you okay, Oliver?! I mean…twice in one night! You usually never miss with that bow of yours. I mean, some guys have been fast enough to deflect one of your arrows, or even catch one in the air, but you don't just…miss! Something must be really wrong for you to…"

Oliver Queen smiled under his hood as he noted the obviously high level of care for his person that was evidenced by the woman's voice. Truth be told, he actually found Felicity's nervous rants to be somewhat endearing, even if they were occasionally annoying. Not that he would tell her that. For a number of reasons. Fixing his face back into a stony expression, the man tried to push his thoughts away from the crush that he was all too aware the tech expert of his vigilante team had on him. Because thinking about the kind hearted Executive Assistant's feelings for him always took his thoughts in a depressing direction. Again, for a number of reasons. The vigilante sighed as he used his bow to draw himself up to another rooftop before he began his long trek back to the Lair. "No. I'm fine, okay? I just… I've had a lot on my mind the past couple of weeks, and I guess it's been making me too tired to aim right. I guess that just means it's time for me to turn in for the night and head back to the Lair."

Diggle and Felicity replied simultaneously. "Sounds like a good idea." "That's the most sensible thing you've said all night."

Without another word being exchanged, the hooded vigilante began his track across the rooftops of Starling City all the way back to the Verdant. As he did so, the man was completely oblivious to the pair of eyes that followed him from an alleyway at street level as he used his bow and arrow to get onto a nearby roof. A pair of hazel eyes, which were currently narrowed in interest and suspicion, that belonged to an individual wearing an all-black jumpsuit and matching ski mask. Nor did the vigilante see the svelte female frown before she got back into her vehicle and sped away.

…Several minutes later…

Once Oliver Queen arrived back at his team's Lair, he was bombarded with the expected barrage of questions. Including, "What's going on with you, Oliver?" from Felicity, and "Where was your head at tonight!?" From Diggle.

The vigilante sighed as he changed out of his gear in a dark corner off the room out of his partners' field of vision. Although Oliver knew all too well that Felicity secretly wished she could watch him change, even though modesty, and respect for his person, kept the hacker from doing so. Not that that was something Oliver wanted to think about now. He had enough problems on his mind as it was. He wanted to ignore his friends' questions, but he knew they wouldn't leave him in peace until he gave some kind of answer. So he gave them one that he thought they could handle. "Like I said, I've just had a lot on my mind, is all. Between my mother's trial, facing the possible takeover of my family's company, and trying to juggle handling all of the crime out there since the Undertaking happened and a bunch of inmates escaped from prison, and at the same time be a CEO…"

"Co-CEO." Felicity blurted out. "You know because of Isabel and…" From the annoyed look the two men in the room gave her after Oliver stepped back into view wearing the business suit he had on that night at Queen Consolidate before changing into his hero persona with the spare outfit and bow and arrow set he kept hidden in secret room at his company's main building, Felicity knew it was time to stop talking. "Right. Not helping. Sorry."

Oliver shrugged. "Don't worry about it. It's not like I don't already know that the Vice President of Acquisitions for Stellmoor International is trying to take over my company and break it into a thousand pieces. And she seems to have taken the fact that I've stopped her from doing that, at least for now, quite personally for some reason…" For a long moment, Oliver wore an expression on his face that seemed to indicate his thoughts were far away from where he was, but the moment passed before either Diggle or Felicity could even begin to guess what the vigilante was thinking about. And in any case, both of Oliver's allies were too tired to guess what their "boss" was thinking at the moment, and they just wanted to go home and go to bed…unlike the third member and unofficial leader of the team, who shook his head. "You know what? It's late, you too should go home and go to bed. I'll need to see you both in the morning for work anyway."

Diggle frowned. "What about you? You need your sleep too, Oliver. Aren't you going to let me drive you back to the mansion to get some shut eye?"

Oliver frowned. "I don't think I could sleep just yet, Diggle. I'm going to go through some of those files on our computer on all those prisoners who escaped from Iron Heights Prison. It should help me take my mind of some of the other stuff that is going on in my life. Don't worry, I'll get myself home later and get at least three hours of sleep. Believe me, I've run on a lot less."

Diggle nodded his head, and Felicity awkwardly imitated the head motion of the black man as he spoke. "Fine. Just promise me you'll get some sleep before you go into work tomorrow."

The blonde haired man nodded before turning towards the computer in the middle of the room. "I promise I will do that."

Deciding to get in a few parting words of her own, the Hood's bespectacled tech expert added. "And be sure not to miss the Queen Consolidated meeting tomorrow morning, Oliver. Every time you miss a meeting, Isabel gets angry...well, angrier. And she seems to enjoy taking it out on me whenever that happens with verbal barbs and large piles of paperwork for me to do, and whatever else she can think of to make my day miserable. So just…try to be on time, okay?"

The gray eyed man nodded silently, not allowing either of his companions to see the contemplative, confused expression on his face as they walked out the door. The man sighed. He hated keeping secrets, especially from his friends. But it seemed lately, it was the only thing he was good at. Technically, everything he had told Diggle and Felicity had been the truth, it just hadn't been all of it. He was worried about his mother, and the future of his father's company, and about how he was going to contain the continuing fallout from the near total destruction of the Glades, which he still felt guilty he hadn't managed to stop. But there was something else bothering him too. Or rather, someone.

The truth was, in addition to all of the other concerns the man had, Isabel Rochev was on his mind a lot these days. And not just because she was trying to take over his company. The first day he had met the woman, she had seemed angry and hostile, but also very controlled and self-assured to the point of arrogance. But for a moment, just before the Hood imitators had broken into the board room of his company, he had gotten a good look at the woman's eyes. And what Oliver had seen there had spoken volumes more than the relatively few words the woman had spoken to him since then. The look in the woman's hazel orbs had revealed something about her he hadn't been prepared for. They suggested that, underneath the woman's anger, and from the hostility that Isabel showed Felicity, and indirectly, himself, on a daily basis, there was a lot of that, there was pain. A pain that only a person who had lost everything, or who believed they had, could possibly understand.

It was the same look that Slade had in his eyes after Shado had been killed by Dr. Ivo. And, more disturbingly, the same look that Oliver saw in his own eyes every time he looked in the mirror ever since he had returned from the island the first time. A look that exhibited that there were scars on an individual's soul that could never seem to heal. Evidence of a pain that never went away, and a loneliness that stayed with a person even if they were in the middle of crowded room, or in the privacy of the bedroom in the arms of a lover. All of this came with the feeling that one was completely and utterly alone, that there was no one who could possibly understand what it was they were going through, because words just feel so dismally short of being able to describe that feeling. Oliver had known that indescribable feeling all too well since the events that had occurred on the island, and the events that had occurred since then, and it seemed that Isabel knew what it was to feel utterly alone as well. Oliver Queen just didn't know what even had made the brunette woman feel that way, or why so much of her anger (an emotion that Oliver was also no stranger to, although he knew it was only a symptom of pain and loneliness) was directed towards him. What was worse, Oliver wasn't really sure whether or not he wanted to know the answers to those questions.

Because the male executive of Queen Consolidated knew it would be simple enough for him to try to find out. He could ask Felicity to do a background check on his business rival, and see if there were any traumatic events in the woman's past that would have led her to become the seemingly heartless ice queen she was now. Honestly, Oliver was surprised his assistant hadn't already run such a background check on Miss Rochev to find any weaknesses in the woman's armor. It was quite odd that his assistant hadn't done so, really, considering Felicity had mentioned that the female Co-CEO would frequently insult her in ways that were borderline abusive, and find other ways to make the life of Oliver Queen's Executive Assistant a living hell. For these reasons, Felicity had called Isabel a fair number of four-letter words and all but stated that she hated Oliver Queen's business partner. And the fact that the usually kind and compassionate Felicity hated Isabel spoke volumes about just how bad the woman's treatment of his assistant must be. Oliver knew that was something he needed to address as well, and that he really should just confront Miss Rochev and demand to know what was behind the woman's mistreatment of Oliver's assistant. If he could even get the woman alone with him for five minutes, that is.

The problem with Oliver's grand plan to confront Miss Rochev was simple. The woman seemed to be avoiding him since their first encounter. Oh, she would attend company meetings whether or not Oliver was there (although, as Miss Rochev seemed to never tire of reminding him through e-mails, or by using Felicity as a go between, that she attended such meetings far more often than he did). But otherwise, the blonde man's business rival seemed to avoid face to face communication with him like the plague, and she now avoided eye contact with Oliver whenever she did see the man in person, usually during a company meeting or when chewing him out for missing such a meeting. In short, Isabel seemed to have been just as shaken by her first encounter with Oliver Queen as he had been, and she had (temporarily) retreated away from the man as much as she possibly could while continuing to try to take over Queen Consolidated. Because, Oliver was sure, she knew that he had seen something in her eyes the first time they had meet, and there was something there that she really didn't want him to see. Something dangerous. And Oliver couldn't shake the feeling that knowing what that something was might be even more dangerous for him than not knowing. Which was why he hadn't gone through with the background check, either. Because, if, as Oliver suspected, Miss Rochev had gone through experiences similar to what he had gone through. If she had experienced true loss, and loneliness, and pain as Oliver had, the blonde haired man suspected that knowing whatever those experiences were might make him hesitate to act against, or maybe even make him sympathize with, his business rival. And that could make him weak, and vulnerable to whatever traps the woman might set for him.

None of this, however, made Oliver's curiosity over what made Isabel Rochev tick diminish in the slightest. And no matter how hard he tried, Oliver couldn't seem to get that woman, or the haunting look she had given him with her hazel eyes, out of his head. After an hour of sitting at the computer, going over escaped inmate files while his brain barely registered what he was reading. Oliver decided to give up not trying to think about Isabel and just go home to get some sleep. Hopefully, getting a few hours of rest would clear his head, and the situation with his business rival would seem clearer in the morning. But in the back of his mind, Oliver Queen doubted the situation with the woman would be that simple to resolve.

….Meanwhile…on the other side of town

The black sports car sped into the abandoned warehouse as soon as the door was opened, stopping only inches away from the one eyed man wearing an eye patch that was standing in the middle of the small building. Less than a second later, an individual clad entirely in black stepped out of the vehicle and slammed the door shut, just before the individual yanked off her ski mask in a motion simultaneous to the closing of the large door behind her.

Isabel Rochev scowled at her true business partner and mentor, Slade Wilson. "We have a serious problem, Slade! It seems you have allowed us both to greatly underestimate our common enemy. My… business partner, for the time being, is a lot stronger than we thought he was. I think it's only fair that you should know that our target, Oliver Queen, is the Hood!"

Slade Wilson smirked. "I know."

**AN: Well, that's it for chapter 2. I hope you enjoyed it. I am a let concerned about my characterization of Oliver Queen so far. Namely, if I made my version of the character more introspective than he was on the show. I like to think that Oliver does a lot more thinking than his words express, but that's just my opinion. And yes, Isabel is still, more or less, a b!%$#y ice queen at this point, because I figured true character change takes time. But, as you can see, things have already started to change for that character because of Oliver's actions. For those of you wondering what Oliver's private musings about Felicity's feelings for him were about…you will find out later in the story. All I will say is that my version of Oliver has his reasons for not pursuing Felicity, in a romantic sense. Also, as you can see, in my story as least, Isabel did not know that Oliver was the vigilante until the events of this chapter, because, for reasons you will see in the next chapter, Slade did not tell her. **

**Furthermore, I know that the first two chapters of this story have been short, highly introspective and light on dialogue, but rest assured, that will all change as the story goes on, especially after the tipping point in my story, when everything will start to change. Finally, let me know if I made a mistake on the name Starling City has for the vigilante during this time. I was under the impression people didn't start calling him "the Arrow" until episode 3 of season 2, and this chapter is set before the events of that episode took place, but please let me know if I am wrong so corrections can be made.**

**Also, I would like to thank all of my reviewers for this story so far, ****highlander348****, ****Troll99****, and last, but certainly not least, ****Dante 101****, who gave me some excellent advice about breaking up my paragraphs more for this story. I tried to do a better job with that when writing this chapter, please let me know if I succeeded. **


	3. Seeds of Doubt

Isabel Rochev inwardly smirked as she listened to Oliver Queen's assistant nervously explain to her, after being questioned about Oliver's whereabouts, that her boss was running late because he had to "tie up some loose ends", although the female CEO managed to keep her face in its usual "pissed off" expression. The truth was, she enjoyed it when the former IT girl got herself going into one of her nervous ramblings. When Felicity did that, the office tart that Isabel loved to make miserable, the woman the female co-CEO was now even more convinced was sleeping with her business rival since she tried so hard to keep his secrets, would often end up making a fool of herself without any help from Isabel. And the brunette woman found it endlessly entertaining that Oliver's assistant often seemed to end up making her own life miserable for that very reason.

What the hazel eyed woman found even more amusing was the fact that Felicity's efforts to conceal something about Oliver, efforts which Isabel had picked up on the first day she had officially met the bespectacled woman, were now rather pointless. Isabel had known that Oliver was the Arrow for weeks since the night she had finally decided to uncover the mystery that the man and his executive assistant had obviously been hiding from her about where Oliver disappeared to all the time. She had simply followed the man after he made yet another abrupt entrance with a lame excuse about going bungee jumping. Using the training she had received from Slade, Isabel had stealthily followed her "business partner" when he went to his secret room and changed (a process which Isabel had watched closely, telling herself she was looking for any scars or fresh wounds on Oliver's body that she could injure further if she ever had to fight the man, and that it had nothing to do with actually wanting to see her nemesis naked), and then followed him from street level for several hours to make sure that Oliver Queen was actually the (then) Hood, and not some ascended fan boy of the vigilante who was trying to play hero for real. But sure enough, although the hooded man's body language indicated he was distracted, too distracted to catch her following him anyway, and he almost seemed to miss a couple of arrow shots, the skill with which Oliver Queen fought, darted between rooftops, and took down several criminals that night indicated to Isabel that he was, indeed, the experienced vigilante that was then known as the Hood. And that revelation had shaken Isabel's confidence in the wisdom of her and Slade's particular plan to destroy Oliver Queen. For a time, she had been able to suppress those doubts after talking to Slade, but they seemed to be coming back to her tonight, for some reason.

But Isabel did not allow any of her amusement, doubts, or concerns to show themselves on her face, and she actually managed to keep her default "ice queen" mask on and chastise her co-CEO for being unfashionably late to a party for potential investors for the company after Oliver showed up. She didn't even show any signs of amusement after she pointed out that Oliver had blood on his face and Felicity tried to cover that fact up with more nervous rambling about how that blood wasn't, or was, Oliver's. Nor did Isabel let a look of disgust pass over her features as she watched the blonde girl wipe said blood off her boss's face while the female co-CEO tried not to wonder why she disliked Felicity, who had never done anything to her, so much, or why it bothered her so that Miss Smoak was obviously in love with her employer and evidently had a very close relationship with that man. Close enough that Oliver had shared his secret identity with the tech guru, anyway. Instead, as she walked away from her business rival and his assistant, Isabel let her thoughts drift back to the events of the night she had discovered Oliver's secret identity, after she had gone to confront Slade Wilson with that information.

_Slade Wilson smirked at his female trainee's announcement that Oliver Queen was the Hood. "I know."_

_ Isabel Rochev scowled at the man who had been her mentor and taught her everything about fighting and stealth that she knew. "You knew?! You knew that Oliver Queen, the man that we are trying to destroy, was an experienced vigilante, and more to the point, fighter, and you didn't bother to tell me, your business partner, that important nugget of information?!"_

_ Slade's smirk didn't falter. "I had confidence you would figure it out on your own. And you didn't disappoint me. I knew you wouldn't. You are the best student I've ever had. Well, the fastest learner, anyway."_

_ Isabel smiled with pride for only a second before her scowl slid back into place. "Be that as it may, you should have told me! How am I supposed to know my enemy if you keep things about him from me?!" Truth be told, there was another reason, besides the fact that Slade hadn't told her about it, or that Oliver was a better fighter than she had thought, that Isabel was upset that her rival had turned out to be the vigilante. But she didn't let herself think about that too much, much less let her mentor know the other reason she was upset by this revelation. _

_In any case, Slade didn't seem to be picking up on the full severity of his pupil's discomfort as he replied. "If I had simply told you what Oliver Queen did during his nights, you wouldn't have truly understood. Only after watching the man in action could you understand the full range of the man's capabilities. This way, you will take him seriously when it comes time to finally destroy him. Besides, not telling you the whole truth was a test, to see if you were clever enough to find out the man's identity on your own, thus proving you were smart enough to be let in on the rest of my plan to destroy this city that Oliver loves so much after you take over Queen Consolidated. And I'm proud to say you passed that test with flying colors."_

_Isabel's scowl lessened in intensity, but did not yet go away. "I'm not your pupil anymore, Mr. Wilson! You said yourself my training was completed and that you and I were going to be partners in this venture from here on out. And that means you shouldn't be hiding information from me! So now I want you to tell me the rest of this plan of yours! Then, IF I like your plan, and IF I decide I can still trust you, we can continue doing business. Otherwise, we will be done after tonight. And even if I decide to stay on board with your plan, if you ever withhold important info like that from me again, our deal is automatically off! We both know that you need me to continue your plan, so don't think you can threaten me into compliance like you so frequently do with that sniveling weasel, Mr. Blood. Now, do we have an understanding?!"_

_Slade nodded grimly. "We do. You are right. It is time I told you everything. But while we are discussing how we are going to destroy Oliver Queen and his family, I think I have just the perfect thing to set a calmer, less hostile tone for that conversation. Here, have some tea…."Slade gestured to a table, two chairs, and tea set that were now, oddly, sitting in the back of the warehouse._

_Isabel did not fail to notice the oddity of a full tea set sitting in the middle of an abandoned warehouse. "Why did you bring tea all the way here?" The woman shrugged, deciding that it didn't matter. There were many things about her mentor's strange mannerisms that she didn't understand. "It doesn't matter. I'm not thirsty, and when I am, I prefer coffee, anyway, or vodka."_

_The one eyed man laughed grimly. "Of course you do. Those beverages match your rather…spirited personality rather well. But I think you'll find this particular tea a little more to your liking than anything you've tried before. It's a special recipe that I...discovered myself. It will help make you strong and give you the focus you need to direct all of that anger and hostility where it belongs, towards Oliver Queen. Isn't that right?" _

_Slade looked towards the empty space his right for several seconds, as if waiting for someone the brunette couldn't see to confirm something, before he nodded. Isabel raised her eyebrow, but said nothing. She had learned shortly after her training had begun that her teacher sometimes talked to people who weren't really present with him, and the hazel eyed woman had long since given up on asking who he thought he was talking to. Her mentor never answered that question, and would only tell his pupil to focus on the task at hand whenever asked. In other words, Isabel Rochev was more than aware that her mentor wasn't all there in the head, but she had always ignored that fact before because Slade had convinced her that he could help her get revenge for having Robert Queen taken from her. But there were days, like today, when the woman wondered whether it had been a good idea to through her lot in with someone who was certifiable._

_Slade's words interrupted his pupil's doubtful thoughts, however. "Besides, I absolutely insist that you drink some." Isabel gazed at the two cups sitting on the table with what must have been obvious apprehension, for Slade laughed at his pupil, filled two cups from the tea kettle, and raised one of the filled cups to his own lips and took a sip while sitting on one of the two seats facing the table. "Relax, Ravager." The man used the code name he had given his pupil after she had completed her formal training. "It isn't poisoned. Now, show some manners, have a seat, and drink some tea with me, and I will forget that you talked to me in such a disrespectful manner, do we have a deal?" The one eyed man echoed his pupil's words back to her in an amused tone, but Isabel knew it was veiled threat. 'I may not be able to kill you just yet, but if you don't do what I say, we both know I can make you suffer.' _

_Knowing that she had let her anger get the better of her by speaking so carelessly towards the most dangerous man she knew, Isabel decided to appease her mentor by taking a seat and taking a sip from the remaining tea cup just as her mentor had asked. And sure enough, although the beverage tasted funny, like something familiar that Isabel couldn't quite place, as promised, soon all her doubts about Slade and his plan fled her thoughts. Soon her doubt was replaced by a renewed feeling of rage toward Oliver Queen and his family, and an increased determination to go through with her and Slade's plan to destroy the man. Isabel smiled. "You are absolutely right about the tea, Mr. Wilson. I feel much better already, and I apologize for my rudeness when addressing you before. Now…" The brunette woman smirked, as the presence of a new, wild spark danced just behind her eyes. "Tell me how I can better help you make Oliver Queen and the city he loves suffer.'_

Sometime later…

Isabel sighed inwardly as she talked to Oliver Queen about yet another one of his misguided attempts to save Starling City from itself that involved a gun buyback event that, amusingly, would be spearheaded by her associate, Sebastian Blood, who was secretly one of the Arrow's enemies. As the female co-CEO tried to explain to her business partner the numerous reasons it was a bad idea for him to use Queen Consolidated funds to pay for the event in question, and that she would not allow him to do so, the woman wondered to herself why she merely felt annoyed, instead of livid that the billionaire was planning to use funds from her company…Robert's company, on such a misguided venture. After all, even if people didn't just use the money from the event to buy more guns and violence in the Glades decreased, it wouldn't matter in a month or so anyway, after much of Starling City was destroyed. But of course, Oliver had no way of knowing that. Even so, Isabel admitted to herself that the gun buyback program might be a good investment from a PR perspective, if Oliver had actually been shrewd enough to insist the Queen Consolidated name be attached to the project. Unfortunately, however, Oliver was insisting on being an anonymous benefactor.

Just when Isabel didn't think the man in front of her could be more naïve, however, Oliver proved her wrong when he announced that he would be sponsoring the event with his own money. After that, it had taken everything Isabel had to keep a straight face and not bust out laughing as she asked in an annoyed tone that hid her amusement at her nemesis' folly. "With what money? In case you haven't noticed, your trust fund isn't what it used to be…" Isabel then proceeded to tell Oliver just why it was a bad idea for him to try to use his own funds to bankroll Sebastian's event. It wouldn't occur to her until an hour later to wonder why she had tried to talk Oliver out of using his own funds to sponsor the gun buyback program. After all, it certainly would be a victory for her if her opponent spent himself right into bankruptcy by trying to fund a misguided charitable cause, so why had she tried to stop Oliver from spending his own money? And why did this whole situation feel so annoyingly familiar?

It took until around midnight that night, just before Isabel went to sleep in her penthouse apartment after a long day of work, for her to realize exactly what was bothering her about Oliver's attempts to help the Glades with this charity event, and it was the same thing that was bothering her about the man being the Arrow. In short, Oliver Queen evidently loved his city, and he had set himself up as one of Starling City's champion protectors…just like his father had tried to do so many years ago by sponsoring numerous charity events in the Glades before he died. And Isabel privately acceded, her younger more naïve self-had actually admired Robert for his generosity towards that part of town when she had been the older man's intern. On a similar note, Oliver, as the Hood, had tried to stop Malcolm Merlyn's Undertaking, the same event that Robert had died trying to prevent all those years ago, a fact that Isabel had only learned after the Undertaking had already taken place, when Moira Queen had testified on live television about Malcolm's hand in the death of her late husband. This testimony had filled Isabel with impotent rage as she had burned with a desire to kill a man that was already dead for having murdered her beloved Robert.

What's bothered Isabel even more, however, was that Oliver had actually been more successful at protecting Starling City, and the Glades in particular, than his father had. Sure, the vigilante hadn't been able to stop the Undertaking entirely, but he and his associates had managed to disable one of Malcolm's two earthquake machines, thus cutting the damage caused to the Glades in half. That, and Moira Queen's announcement to the press about the Undertaking, had probably saved thousands of people, as compared to the just over 500 lives that were actually lost that day. And Isabel was smart enough to know that all of this wasn't a coincidence, that these charitable events for the Glades, being the Arrow, all of it, was Oliver's way of honoring his father's memory, just as pursuing vengeance on all of the people that had held Robert back from running away with her, an act which would have kept him safe from Malcolm's wrath, was her way of doing the same thing. In short, Isabel realized, in a twisted way, she and Oliver were trying to accomplish the same thing, for the same man, but in two very different ways that had set them on opposite ends of the chess board. In short, she and Oliver Queen were enemies because, in their own, very different ways, they had both loved Robert Queen, and had very different ideas, conflicting ideas about how that man's memory should be honored. And that thought, as well as one that accompanied it, haunted Isabel Rochev all night, keeping her awake until morning.

'What if I'm the one that is trying to honor Robert Queen the wrong way?'

**AN: Once again, that is the end of the chapter! I hope you liked it. I just want to warn you not to expect all future chapter updates to happen as quickly as these first three. I have been on a roll writing this story lately, but I have a lot of RL stuff to catch up on before I can write chapter four. Now, onto a couple of issues about the story itself.**

**One, I know I'm going over scenes from the show itself without much of the dialogue, in some of these chapters but that is only because I didn't feel like retreading over every word that was said in the actual episodes when the character's perspectives about what happened are so much more interesting. However, the original scenes in which Isabel is present are easily accessible on YouTube, so you can easily look them up there to refresh your memory about what is being said during these scenes if you would like to, and the particular scenes from the show used her are in episode 2X04 of the show. But I though I added enough info here to let you, my readers, know in general terms, what was being said during the events the chapters take place in. But please let me know if that style of writing is too jarring for you.**

**And finally, ladies and gentlemen, we are getting to the more twisted parts of the story, which, to be fair, I have been avoiding for as long as I thought was logically possible. As I exhibited in this chapter, both Oliver and Isabel's motivations are strongly influenced by Robert Queen's presence in their lives, and that fact will have a greater impact on the plot as the story goes on. In other words, the fact that Isabel had a previous romantic relationship with Oliver's father will come up repeatedly in the story. I just thought I would give all of you a heads up that Isabel's previous relationship with Oliver's father will, and logically, must, impact the plot from time to time, although it certainly won't be the main focus of the story, and I will be attempting to downplay the potential effects that will have on Olibel later. But it will come up, and it will have an impact, and sometimes, it may come across as a little…weird for a little while. Just thought I would warn anyone who wants to get off the train now, if that makes them too uncomfortable to read the rest of my story. But I hope you will give the rest of my story a chance, anyway. And I promise I will do my best not to give TSFTDS too much of a "The Graduate" vibe. In any case, don't hesitate to leave any of your thoughts, positive or negative, about this chapter, or my story in particular, in a review. I hope you all are enjoying the ride so far!**


	4. Close Encounters

Oliver sighed as entered the bar area for the hotel that he and the rest of what Felicity (much to his annoyance) called "team Arrow" were staying in, alongside Oliver's business partner/competitor, Isabel Rochev, in the early evening. Oliver knew there must have been numerous times that he had been more nervous than he felt right now, especially on the island, but nothing sprang immediately to mind. The situation that he and his team was in right now was a very delicate one, and one wrong move could mean that a member of his team, Lyla, himself, or even Isabel, could end up dead, or thrown in one of the world's worst jails for the rest of their lives. The fact that Oliver was having to use his contacts in the Russian mafia, who were known for being uneasy allies with him, at best, despite his friendship with Anatoly Knyazev, who he had saved on the island (and off the coast off it), to break two people out of the Koshmar gulag, which was reputed to be neigh inescapable, was bad enough. But the human element made it much worse. The fact was, Oliver didn't know if he could trust his partner, John Diggle, to be his usual disciplined and thoughtful self on this mission, since the man was here in Russia to save his ex-wife Lyla, who the soldier had confessed he still had feelings for. And although Oliver sympathized with his friend's predicament, and had offered to help the man save Lyla, he also knew that emotions, especially romantic ones, could get in the way of clear decision making in a life or death situation. He had plenty of personal experience that attested to that fact. But, unfortunately, Lyla and his team were not the only people that Oliver had to worry about today.

As was usually the case for Oliver whenever Isabel involved herself in his affairs, the woman's presence on this trip, which had supposedly been to look at some of Queen Consolidated's overseas holdings, had complicated things. First of all, he had to be careful not to let his co-worker know what he and his team were up to, and Oliver knew that, by itself, wouldn't be an easy task, for Oliver already knew from observing Isabel that the woman was very intelligent, perceptive, and sometimes downright nosy about his affairs. And that fed into the second problem that had come with Isabel Rochev inviting herself on this trip to Moscow, the fact that he had to lie to the brunette by saying he was here to check up on a company related business venture, and then lie again when he promised he would be there with her this morning to check up on that venture, when he had known full well he would be busy for much of today getting Diggle into the Gulag and setting things up to break the man, and his ex, back out again. That bothered Oliver a lot, for he knew that Isabel, who already criticized him, and by extension, Felicity, on an almost daily basis for him neglecting his role as a co-CEO, even though her really did care about his father's company and had tried to make more meetings lately, when Arrow business didn't get in the way, would give him and his secretary hell for missing the meeting this morning. True, Oliver now believed, based upon Isabel's conversation with him the night before, that the real reason that Isabel was so hard on Felicity was that she believed that his assistant was sleeping with him, a misconception the blonde man knew he needed to clear up. But that didn't really help ease Oliver's mind either, since the man now couldn't help but wonder why Isabel cared who he slept with enough to make Felicity's life miserable, and for that matter, why he cared that Isabel cared about his sleeping arrangements, territory Oliver really tried to keep his mind out of.

Also, adding yet another mystery to the Isabel problem was the fact that Miss Rochev was still even around, and had not cut her loses and left Queen Consolidated alone, as she had a couple of other companies that had resisted Stellmoor's attempts at a hostile takeover in the past. On the contrary, as time went on, and Isabel put more and more of her time into managing Queen Consolidated, and kept getting onto him for not doing the same, it had become obvious that Isabel was not planning to split up his family's company so that she could sell its stock at premium prices. No, this wasn't about money. Oliver now knew for almost certain that Isabel wanted to actually own and run Queen Consolidated, and see that company prosper, although he did not know why. Furthermore, for reasons that the vigilante couldn't fathom, she took it very personal when anything, or anyone, stood in the way of that objective, including him.

Now Oliver was on his way to Isabel's room to apologize to her for missing this morning meeting, having turned down Felicity's offer to tour Moscow with her while they had a few hours of downtime, so that there would be plenty of time for that conversation, which would also clarify what his actual relationship to Felicity was (apart from her role as the Arrow's I.T. expert, of course) with his business partner so that Isabel would stop making Felicity's life miserable. He also wanted to try to pick Isabel's brain and get some more insight into the woman's motivations. But first, Oliver really thought he needed a drink, both to help him relax and, hopefully, take his mind of Isabel for a short while before meeting her, while trying not to think about whatever the reason was that thinking about her took up so much of his thought space when he had so many other pressing issues to worry about, such as the safety of his teammates, the Glades, and all of Starling City. Which was why Oliver had decided to stop at the hotel bar first. But, after ordering his drink, and turning around to take a seat in the lounge area, Oliver noticed that his plan to relax at the bar before meeting Isabel had a major hitch to it: Isabel Rochev was there in the lounge as well, working on her laptop, which she soon put away after seeing Oliver enter the room.

Thankfully, however, Oliver had been surprised often enough by events in the past to know how to handle himself when things did not go the way he expected. So he decided to make the best of the situation and sat down next to Isabel to apologize for his absence at the company meeting this morning, eschewing the lame excuse that he had originally thought off, about being busy buying a Russian vehicle. Instead, he used a slightly more palatable, and also true, excuse, that, although he couldn't go into details, he had been forced to miss the meeting because a friend of his had been in trouble and needed his help with something this morning. Oliver didn't know why, but he really did take it personal whenever Isabel made a dig at him for being irresponsible, and had been trying to work up better excuses for his absences lately. To her credit, Isabel didn't criticize Oliver's reason for missing the meeting this morning, although she didn't praise him for helping his friend either. But soon, Oliver and Isabel found themselves having a surprisingly pleasant conversation over drinks that lasted for almost an hour, during which time Oliver explained to the brunette that Felicity was just a close friend that he trusted a great deal. During that hour, Oliver and Isabel found themselves learning a lot about each other, like the fact that they both enjoyed drinking vodka and spoke Russian, and the businesswoman was surprisingly forthcoming about her past, even going as far as to reveal that she had been raised in a Russian orphanage since she was nine, and had a lonely childhood after she had been adopted by an American family at that age. A childhood made even lonelier when her adoptive parents, and their son, their only biological child, had died in a car accident on the way to pick her up from ballet practice when she was only 12, thus landing Isabel, who no longer enjoyed ballet in any form, into the foster care system in the United States. But it wasn't until after Oliver decided to ask an inebriated Isabel why it was that she cared so much about the welfare of Queen Consolidated, hoping to get a straight answer from the co-CEO, who seemed so much more amicable when she was only slightly drunk that Oliver had begun to suspect this was what Isabel was really like under the stone cold exterior she showed the world, that things got really interesting.

Although the brunette had disappointed Oliver by giving a vague answer to his question involving the fact that "it's not easy to make it as a woman in business" and that she had "given up a lot" to get where she was, the blonde man found the woman's body language, as well as her eyes, much more revealing, as Isabel let her guard down enough to look him in the eyes, revealing the same loneliness and pain that he had seen in the woman's eyes the first time he had met her, and Oliver got the distinct impression that she was telling him the truth about her past, and "giving up a lot" to be successful. And even though Oliver was more than aware that there had to be more to Isabel's story, and at least one more reason that Isabel felt so alone, he was content with the answers he had about his business rival's past for the moment. After Oliver had his question "answered", Isabel had, in turn, questioned him about why he pretended to be stupid and lazy all the time, Oliver dodged the hazel eyed woman's questions, and Isabel had, in a roundabout way, complimented him for being intelligent and driven like her, and, to Oliver's surprise, observed that he was also lonely like her. Evidently, the male co-CEO observed, he had let down his own guard down enough for the woman in front of him to see past his defenses, and see an echo of her own loneliness in his eyes. And that thought somehow disturbed and excited Oliver at the same time. But not as much as what happened after Oliver verbally observed that it seemed like he and Isabel had both seemed to be living with loneliness for a long time, after which Isabel disarmed him with a sultry look from her all-too captivating eyes and asked him to "pay the check" in a seductive tone of voice.

At the very moment, Oliver was reminded of something his deceased friend, Tommy Merlyn, would often say during his and Oliver's clubbing days before the wreck of the Queen's Gambit, just before Malcom's son did something truly idiotic when he was high and/or absolutely hammered. The phrase seemed oddly appropriate here. "Do you ever have one of those moments when you know you are about to do something really stupid, but you just can't quite seem to help yourself?"

Within minutes, Oliver and Isabel ended up in the man's room together. Immediately after entering his hotel room, Oliver found himself in a major lip lock with an unsurprisingly aggressive Isabel, who started pushing him toward his bed, and from the pace she was setting, it was clear that Isabel intended their rendezvous tonight to be a "quickie." And that did not sit well with Oliver Queen, who had always subscribed to the philosophy that if one had to do something stupid, they might as well get the most that they could out of it. And since he had some time to kill, having blown off Felicity's idea to see the sights of Moscow with her (although the crestfallen look on his assistant's face when he made that decision had almost been enough to change his mind), Oliver wanted to make this "mistake" last as long as possible. "Do you mind slowing things down a little, Isabel? I have a couple of hours to kill here. Don't you think we should try to make this last long enough to enjoy it a little?"

Isabel frowned, but only for a second, after which she was all smiles again and replied. "Sure. Why the hell not!?" Before lowering both of their bodies slowly, and surprisingly gently, onto the bed.

…1 and a half hours later…

Oliver got out of the bed, sweaty, but only slightly tired, trying not to meet Isabel's eyes as he disposed of his protection in a trash bin, then made his way to the shower in his room while in a dazed state to wash himself off before the mission to save Lyla and Diggle later, all the while thinking, 'What the hell was that!?'. After changing back into his business suit, which he had retrieved from the floor before showering, Oliver returned to the room to find, to his surprise, that Isabel was still in his bed, although she was now half way dressed, and judging from the expression on her face, she had been just as shaken by their "close encounter" this evening as he had had. And Oliver had to admit, if only to himself, that it scared him a little that Isabel, who had always seemed so self-assured and in-the-know about what was going on, seemed just as confused about what had just happened as he was. In relational terms, the two of them were off the edge of the map now, and he had no idea how this night had changed the relationship between him and his business partner. He only knew that relationship had, indeed, changed.

Oliver and Isabel's tryst had seemed to start out innocently enough. Well, Oliver thought, perhaps innocently wasn't the right word. Innocuously, maybe? Oliver wished, not for the first time, that he had finished college, or at least read more, so that he would have the vocabulary to put words to his sometimes very complex thoughts. In any case, although he had known beforehand that it was a somewhat stupid decision, he had thought that sleeping with Isabel wouldn't be all that noteworthy an event for him, as most of his one night stands with various woman hadn't been. But he had been wrong. When he and Isabel had come together, it hadn't just felt like sex…, although Oliver didn't think making love worked to describe how that event…well, several events over several rounds of coitus, had felt either. Sleeping with Isabel, and taking his time to do while thoroughly exploring her body and memorizing every detail, wasn't like sleeping with Laurel, who Oliver knew he had been in love with, although he didn't know how he felt about her anymore, other than that he cared about his old flame enough to want her to be happy and to want good things to happen for her. But being with his business partner hadn't felt like any of his countless tryst with other women over the years either, most of which had been meaningless flings, and even during the instances in which he's slept with other women he had actually cared about in some other capacity, like Shado or Sara, it had been clear (at least in his mind) that those "relationships" had mostly involved himself and the other woman(en) using each other for pleasure during sex while mostly operating at a "friends" level otherwise.

Tonight's encounter with Isabel had been different from both of those extremes. He wasn't in love with the hazel eyed woman, for he didn't know her that well, and she was still trying to take over his family's company. However, Oliver Queen knew he now felt something for the brunette who's pain and loneliness mirrored his own, something that was more than lust, but wasn't quite love… although Oliver feared that his feelings for the hazel eyed women could potentially lead him to falling in love with her, which would be massively stupid, even by his standards. Even so, whatever dormant feelings for the brunette that had been awakened when he had slept with her still nagged at him and refused to go away, even when lied to himself and told himself tonight had meant nothing, and it bothered him that he didn't know how to put what he was feeling into words, even in his own mind. Deciding that he needed to table thinking about this for now after remembering it was almost time to help Diggle and Lyla escape from prison, Oliver turned to Isabel, whose expression had now returned to it's usual "ice queen" look, which Oliver knew to be only a mask. "Isabel, I have to go now, I'm sorry."

Oliver could have sworn he saw a hurt look flash in Isabel's eyes for a moment, but it only lasted a second, long enough for the man to believe he may have imagined it, and he couldn't identify for that's what it was before it was gone, in any case, before the woman smirked. "Do I look like someone that needs to cuddle?"

Oliver just managed to suppress a frown on his own face and smile instead before replying, "I guess not", before opening the door to his room, revealing his assistant and good friend, Felicity Smoak, was on the other side of the door, waiting to remind him that it was time to go rescue their friends. And that was when things escalated from bad to worse, when Isabel, now fully clothed, made her presence known to Felicity by walking out the door and making a catty remark to Oliver about not "needing" Felicity for the night, although Oliver didn't know whether the smile on the brunette's face indicated that she had actually believed him about Felicity just being a friend, and was just having fun with him. Either way, the male co-CEO really didn't appreciate the remark at his assistant's expense, especially after a look of betrayal and hurt crossed across Felicity's face, making Oliver deduce that his assistant falsely believed he had turned down her offer to explore Moscow with her because he had planned to spend this evening sleeping with Isabel ahead of time. And the fake smile that Felicity put on her face afterward only made things worse for Oliver, who hated it when people weren't straight with him about what they thought of him, as his assistant attempted to shrug off tonight's events, "What happens in Russia, stays in Russia, right?!"

….

A couple days later, Oliver found himself making his way to Felicity's office, still thinking about how much his actions In Russia had messed up so many aspects of his personal and professional lives. True, Diggle and Lyla were now safe thanks to his, Felicity's and the Russian mafia's help, and Isabel had been giving Felicity less of a hard time lately, and now actually smiled at his person from time to time, but everything else was screwed up because he had slept with Isabel, who, for all he knew, may just be trying to manipulate him into a false sense of security by pretending she liked him. And Oliver didn't even know if he would have preferred the alternative, Isabel actually developing feelings for him. Both of those scenarios would be very complicated to work with, and Oliver hated complications in relationships, especially when he didn't know what kind of relationship he had with a person, as was the case right now. So now he was the one avoiding Isabel around the office, like she had used to do to him. Which was why he was now about to hand some paperwork to Felicity to pass along to Isabel. Although, truth be told, he was almost as afraid to go to see Felicity as he would have been to see Isabel.

Oliver Queen knew he had severely messed up his friendship to Felicity by sleeping with Isabel. It hadn't taken him long to figure that out. Even if the hurt look that had gone across her face after catching them in the same room together hadn't given that away, the woman's rant, which had occurred while they were both still in Russia, about what had happened, which Oliver figured he probably deserved, indicated that he could have slept with any other woman in Russia, and that would have been better than sleeping with Isabel. And while the Arrow wasn't quite certain that was true, he saw Felicity's point. Sleeping with Isabel had certainly been stupid. But it was done, and Oliver knew that, as was the case with the rest of his bad decisions from his past, he couldn't undo it. He just wished he knew how to repair his friendship with Felicity now.

Oliver walked into his friend's office, handed her the papers for Isabel, than began to awkwardly walk out, since he was not sure what else to do or say. But Oliver's retreat from the tech wizard's office was cut short by an abrupt question that caught the billionaire off guard. The question that had been bouncing around in his skull for the past couple of days, that he was frustratingly, no closer to having a concrete answer to. "I just want to know…why her? I mean, aside from the obvious leggy model reason. Why did you have to…" Felicity, seemingly fighting back a sob, couldn't seem to voice the rest of her question, but her boss knew exactly what she meant. "Why would you sleep with Isabel Rochev, off all people?"

Oliver sighed as he turned back to his friend. "It just sort of… happened." He thought about adding that it had meant nothing, but Oliver knew that wasn't true, even if he was unclear about what exactly, his actions that night with Isabel had meant. And he really didn't like to lie to Felicity when he didn't absolutely have to. So he said instead. "I don't know why. I just…"The blonde man sighed again as he thought about how to put this. "With the kind of life I lead, what I have to do, and how many people's lives I've already ruined…I just think it's better for me not to get involved with someone that I could seriously worry about hurting."

And that was the crux of the problem between Oliver and every other woman in his life, including Felicity. Sooner or later, Oliver knew, he would ruin any relationship with a woman that he entered, like he had with Laurel, or Sara, or Shado, or countless others, and then he would hurt them. He was the reason why Laurel no longer trusted him, not that he blamed her after he had slept with her sister. The trouble was, she no longer seemed to trust anybody else, either. He was at least part of the reason that Sara had been forced to kill more times than he cared to know, and was now a hard hearted vigilante instead of the sweet, naïve girl he had used to know. He was even the reason that Shado was dead, and Helena was still trying to kill her father, or at least, he hadn't been able to stop her desire to do so. Sooner or later, Oliver knew, he hurt every woman he started a relationship with, and he could not risk doing that to his kind hearted tech assistant, of all people. For he knew that a relationship with her would be doomed even if he managed not to do anything overtly wrong to screw it up, for Felicity was a curious soul that already wanted to know everything about him, and there would always be a part of him, the part of him that was always alone and in pain since the island, that she could never understand. And quite frankly, Oliver never wanted the blonde woman to understand that part of him, for then she would have to suffer like he had suffered. And that was something Oliver would never allow to happen.

In contrast, as messed up as he knew his feelings were for Isabel were, as unlikely as it was that he would even be able to act on them again, and as much as he tried to make them go away, there was a thought that had kept repeating itself in his head since the events of that night. 'At least with Isabel, you wouldn't have to hide that part of yourself from, or worry about hurting her. She's already in as much pain as you are, and if she's even half as screwed up as you, you will have little chance of making her worse.' But Oliver wisely choose not to voice that thought after his assistant walked out of the room after announcing her belief that he deserved better than Isabel. The Arrow silently disagreed. For he knew that, for him at least, it wasn't who he deserved to have, or even who he could have, that was the most problematic question. It was who he could imagine himself being with without hurting them. And at the moment, Isabel Rochev, the woman who had evidently never been able to get rid of the pain she had lived with since she was a little girl, who hid her loneliness behind an icy facade, was the only person that met the bill And that thought, that even if Isabel was far from perfect, she might be the only woman that he could even possibly come to love who might be able to understand all of him and who he could see himself not hurting, filled him with an anxiety that would keep Oliver Queen up for the rest of the evening.

**AN: And that's chapter four. Okay, first of all, I didn't expect to finish this chapter so quickly, but the writing bug for this story won't leave me alone, even if I'm supposed to be doing other things right now, so here it is. I hope you enjoyed it. I just wanted to add a few notes of explanation for this chapter for anyone who may have picked up on some discrepancies between this chapter and the show.**

**First off all, I am aware that the some of the conversational items between Isabel and Oliver in this chapter were in a different order than they were in the episode "Keep Your Enemies Closer", and that I added at least one item to both the conversation between Isabel and Oliver at the bar, and to her backstory. I explain the first discrepancy as a matter of timing, since Oliver arrived at the hotel bar earlier in the evening than he did during the episode, or at least the episode as I remember it, thus, at least a few things about their conversation would be different. Any other timing discrepancies are my fault, and my fault alone. Also, I chose to add the car crash to Isabel's backstory to help make (in my opinion) more sense out of the character, to help explain why she has such deep trust and relational issues if she had two adoptive parents who loved her enough to adopt her and bring her all the way to America, and raise her as their own. Perhaps I'm just reading too much into that part of her story, but I thought Isabel's backstory could have used more filling in in that regard.**

**Second, to those of you who think that this narrative is being too hard on Oliver here, or not hard enough, or perhaps both at times, just remember that this chapter is mostly told from Oliver's own perspective, and he may not be all that good at objectively judging himself. Even so, Oliver Queen's judgments of himself will definitely have a huge impact about how he acts during the rest of the story, so I felt it was word devoting the writing space to go over Oliver's (or my versions of him anyway) self-evaluation here. And for anyone wondering about Isabel's perspective on the events of this chapter…you will just have to read the next chapter to find out. In any case, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter! Thank you to everyone who has read, favorited, followed and/or reviewed my story so far! You keep me inspired to keep posting on this site! So please, let me know what you thought of this chapter!**

**And finally, a big thank you goes out to my beta reader, who I have been remiss in forgetting to thank for her help with this story before now. Without their help, this story would probably be an unintelligible mess. Thank you so much for your assistance!**


	5. Everything You Know (Is Wrong)

Moira Queen frowned as she looked towards the bar in the parlor room of her home after making an excuse to end the conversation she had just been having with Maxwell Shepard, the mercantile tycoon who, Moira Queen knew from personal experience, only showed up to these kinds of events for the free drinks. The mother of two really wasn't in the mood to humor the man right now, despite the fact that he was one of the few members of the elite in Starling City who had bothered to show up to the party her son had thrown his mother to welcome her back to Queen Consolidated. No, the middle aged woman's mood was far too bleak right now to put up with Max's mundane conversations, and not just because so few people had showed up to the party her son had paid a small fortune to have thrown in her honor. No, the presence of the young brunette woman that Oliver was currently drinking with at the bar bothered Moira far more than the low turn out to this event. It was bad enough that the tart that had had an affair with her deceased husband until just over six years ago, and who had tried to talk Oliver's son out of letting his own mother back into the company his father had built, had actually had the nerve to show up to this event. What made that affront much worse, however, was how close she was standing to Oliver while she shared a drink with him and spoke in a low tone that Moira couldn't quite overhear, and the way that she and Oliver were smiling at each other right now, although, to his credit, Oliver's smile was offset by the worry lines that remained around his eyes, leaving little doubt that the man was still upset at how few people had come to his mother's party. Compounding on top of the smiles and looks that Isabel Rochev and Oliver Queen were currently sharing, however, was the way two of them acted around each other at Queen Consolidated, something that Moira had recently witnessed after Oliver had tried to bring her back into the company recently. In short, Oliver and Isabel had acted like they were dancing around each other, both trying to avoid each other's eyes as much as possible when they talked, and both smiling (seemingly) unconsciously when their eyes happened to meet anyway.

Moira didn't know Isabel well enough to know what that behavior meant on the hazel eyed woman's part, but she knew her son well enough to know that he had somehow taken a shining to Isabel, and that thought disturbed Ollie's mother for a number of reasons, including the fact that she didn't know, and really didn't want to, how far Oliver had gone to act on his feelings for the brunette. But the worry that was at the forefront of Moira's mind as she watched her son and Isabel talk was why the Russian-born woman was being so… friendly with her son. There were only two possibilities that Moira could think of for why the woman who was trying to take over her family's company had started acting this way around her son, and both options were distressing for the blonde woman for different reasons. The first, and Moira thought, most likely, possibility was that Isabel was simply playing Oliver for a fool by pretending to like him so that she could then sweep up Queen Consolidated out from under his feet the second he lowered his guard as part of the same misguided vindictive plot to get back at the Queen family for what had happened between the younger woman and Robert. Moira was sure that had been the reason for Isabel trying so hard to take over Queen Consolidated. And since that company was Robert's legacy to this family, and most of the Queen's money was currently wrapped up in the company due to Thea's well-meaning, but not so well thought out, attempts to bail her family's company out of the downturn it was experiencing right after the Undertaking took place, while Oliver was away who knows where and her mother was in prison, that thought distressed Moira quite a bit, leaving the mother's stomach in knots of fear and concern for her family. But as bad as that explanation for Isabel's actions would be, Moira found the alternative even less appetizing.

The other reason that Isabel could be acting this way around her son also affected her stomach when she thought of it, although the feeling that alternative caused the older woman to feel was more akin to nausea than fear. And that was that Isabel had actually begun to fall for her son, a possibility which disturbed Moira, for obvious reasons. To make matters worse, Moira couldn't see any way of nipping a possible romance between her son and Isabel in the bud without telling Oliver what happened between the hazel-eyed woman and Robert years ago, a discussion that would probably also end with her revealing Thea's true parentage to Oliver. That was a discussion Moira really wanted to avoid having with her son if that was at all possible. Thankfully, Moira believed she had a way to destroy, or at least weaken, Isabel's resolve if the younger woman was still set on avenging her and Robert's doomed relationship. Unfortunately, that option would also involve taking part in a conversation that the mother really didn't want to have, with one of the few people in the world that she absolutely hated. But Moira supposed it couldn't be helped. So, with a sigh, the middle aged woman proceeded towards Isabel as soon as Oliver had left the latter party alone at the bar.

As soon as Moira stopped next to Isabel, the brunette woman turned to face the older woman and half-smiled and half-smirked at her, although Moira noticed that the younger woman's heart didn't seem to be completely in the gesture. Strangely, Isabel's hazel eyes seemed, almost, sad as they looked at Moira while notably still watching Oliver, who was standing in the middle of the room now, out of the corner of her eye while she spoke. "Oliver threw you a lovely party."

Moira shrugged, then, with another sigh, decided to bite back the spiteful words she wanted to say about her son not being a good judge of character, which Moira guessed would get her nowhere, and go ahead and say the words she needed to before she and Isabel's conversation could be interrupted. "Yes, he did. May I have a word with you alone, Ms. Rochev? It's important."

Isabel frowned and hesitated a second before her more polite impulses evidently won out and the brunette forced a smiled "Of course."

Oliver chose that moment to interrupt his mother and Isabel. "Is everything okay?"

As Oliver was currently trying to avoid eye contact with the brunette, Moira guessed her son did not see the worried look in the latter party's eyes that gave the lie to her smile and verbal response. "Everything's going perfectly."

With that, Isabel followed Moira's lead toward one of the guest bathrooms, leaving Oliver to wonder what, exactly his mother wanted to talk to his business partner about.

…

Bound by wanting to appear polite, and to make Oliver think she was trying to keep peace with his mother for appearances sake, Isabel followed Moira with trepidation through the door that the woman soon found out led to a bathroom. She didn't like the idea of talking to Moira at this particular moment at all, for a number of reasons. For one thing, there was the mixture of anger and guilt that Isabel always felt in the woman's presence ever since Robert had told her about Moira conceiving a child with Malcolm Merlyn around the same time her affair had started with the Queen patriarch. The younger woman's anger had only intensified when she had learned about Moira's part in the Undertaking, and had been very present when she had tried to convince Oliver, with what she thought was some very sound reasoning, that he shouldn't invite his mother back into the company fairly recently. That anger was slightly dulled by the knowledge that Moira had only complied with Malcolm to protect her children, although Isabel did not know, or perhaps did not want to know, why that fact mattered to her. And the guilt that Isabel had felt whenever Moira had used to stop by her husband's office after her affair with the man had started was also, surprisingly, still there whenever she was in the Queen matriarch's presence. It seemed that, no matter how many times she tried to convince herself that, as Robert himself had said, he loved her, not Moira, and that his cheating wife didn't deserve the man she loved, anyway, the younger woman still felt bad about the affair when she was in Moira's presence. She could never bring herself to feel sorry for having had Robert, though. Only that the man had had to cheat on his wife with her for that to happen.

But there were a lot of other reasons that the conversation Isabel was about to have with Moira, as well as this whole party in the older woman's honor, made her nervous. For starters, Isabel was not enjoying the inevitably low turnout for this even as much as she thought she would, and she knew exactly what, or rather, who, the reason for her ambivalence was: Oliver Queen. The man hid it well, but Isabel could see from the look in his eyes that he was upset and deeply disappointed that Starling City hadn't immediately rushed to welcome his mother back as one of their own. And naïve as Isabel knew that sentiment, and the man's prior expectations for this party, were, she couldn't help but feel a little bad for the man, who was obviously a devoted son trying to put some wind back in his mother's sails after she had been released from prison. With that in mind, Isabel had to admit, if only to herself, that Oliver's attempts to endear his mother to Starling had some nobility to them, as foolish as that endeavor was, and the brunette had found, to her surprise, that Oliver's disappointment about tonight's events had robbed her of her joy at seeing Moira be humiliated tonight. That though bothered Isabel more than anything else, really, because Isabel had been forced to admit, after her and Oliver's trip to Russia, that she actually had feelings for the man, although she didn't know what those feelings meant exactly. But she did know four things.

One, Isabel knew the feelings for Oliver that had been brought out for Oliver's person that night in the hotel room were unlike anything she had experienced in a long time. Although she had slept with several men in her life, most of them had only been casual flings, but that night in Russia with Oliver, which had started out as a simple ploy to get Oliver to become infatuated with her and let his guard down, had been different. She didn't know exactly why, only that, during that intimate encounter, when the man had taken his time with her, Oliver had made her feel important, and special, and wanted…things that she hadn't felt since…a long time. Furthermore, those feelings had persisted since that night, as she and Oliver continued to steal glances and smile at each other when no one else was looking, and Isabel found herself speaking in a nicer tone when interacting with the blonde haired man and his assistant, who the brunette still didn't like due to the man's obvious close, although perhaps not romantic, relationship to the I.T. girl who Isabel had known for a couple of weeks was the Arrow's tech expert. Even so, Isabel was trying to be nicer to Felicity for Oliver's benefit.

Two, the brunette knew that her feelings for Oliver, whatever they were, were not just an offshoot of her feelings for Robert. Isabel had that much straight in her head, at least. Oliver was a much different man from his father, after all. He was more impulsive, and less educated, but also more humble and, in many ways, more heroic (or at least, more successful at it), then his father had been. So Isabel at least knew that her feelings for Oliver, whatever they were, were different than what she had felt for Robert.

However, Isabel also knew that she was still angry about Robert's death, and the people that had held the man back from gallivanting away with her, where he would have been safe from harm. And Isabel still somewhat blamed the remaining Queens for keeping Robert in Starling long enough to get in Mr. Merlyn's crosshair. Or at least, she thought she still blamed them, she was a little fuzzy on that point these days. In any case, the Russian born woman was ambivalent enough about the plan, especially her feelings for Oliver, to wonder if it was possible that she loved and hated the man at the same time. Unfortunately, Isabel knew that her emerging feelings for Oliver were starting to dull her anger, and her resolve to follow through with her and Slade's plan, a great deal. In fact, the hazel eyed woman was quite certain that, if were completely up to her, she would have given up on the plan to destroy the Queens at least a week ago and left Starling City forever so she wouldn't have to live with all these conflicting feelings anymore. But there was a major problem with that plan…

The fourth thing that Isabel knew was that, despite the fact that her deal with Slade seemed to be getting worse all the time, between her wavering resolve the follow through with the plan, her diminished assurance that the Queens were really complicit in Roberts death in a meaningful way, and the fact that Slade's recently revealed domineering nature clearly indicated that she was Slade's pawn, not an equal partner, in his endeavor to destroy the Queens, she could not back out of her deal with Mr. Wilson now. The one eyed man had made it pretty clear to Isabel through his actions and veiled threats that he would see her abandonment of the plan as a betrayal, and the brunette woman knew, based upon Slade's plans against Oliver, how the Mirakuru-laced man dealt with people he believed to be traitors, since the only thing that Slade would say to her about why he hated Oliver so much was that he had been betrayed by the blonde haired man. So as much as Isabel wanted out of Slade's plan now, she knew there was no turning back, a thought she was still ruminating on when Moira shut and locked the bathroom door and the brunette spoke in as flippant a voice as she could manage at the moment. "Nice meeting room, Moira. Although I was expecting something a little bit classier than porcelain tile."

Moira frowned, evidently ignoring Isabel's snappy remark. "I actually have something quite serious and private to discuss with you, Miss Rochev, and I didn't want anyone to disturb us while we had our little chat. Hence, our current location. I hope you don't mind."

Isabel forced a smile while simultaneously suppressing a nervous gulp. "Of course not. What did you have to tell me, Mrs. Queen?"

Moira sighed for the third time this evening. "There is no easy way to say this, but I suppose you deserve to know… Before he passed, Robert told me that after he succeeded in stopping Malcolm Merlyn's Undertaking… he was still going to leave me. For you."

Isabel frowned and her eyes narrowed as she attempted to make her way towards the door. "That isn't funny, Moira."

Moira Queen stood in Isabel's path, preventing her from exiting the room and spoke with a grave expression on her face. "Do I look like I'm laughing!?" Isabel stopped her progress towards the door and shook her head while the blonde woman continued speaking. "Robert told me, just before he left on the Queen's Gambit, that Thea's horse-riding incident had made him realize that he loved her and Oliver too much to give them up, and that he knew he would never forgive himself if he abandoned Starling City to the Undertaking after he learned about Malcom's plan. However, he also made clear that he felt his relationship with me had been over for a long time and that he loved you now." Moira visibly grimaced, an act which revealed two things to Isabel. One, that Moira's story was probably the truth. And two, that the Queen matriarch really didn't like admitting any of this, especially to her. Therefore, the Russian woman stayed silent and allowed the woman in front of her to continue speaking. "So Robert told me that after the Undertaking was stopped, he was going to file for divorce, find where you had disappeared to, and leave me for you. He also said that he would continue spending time with Oliver, who was already an adult, and try to get joint custody of Thea."

Isabel looked into Moira's eyes, which radiated a mixture of anger and sadness, but didn't reveal even an ounce of deception. Although the younger woman was still fighting to keep her composure, she was starting to feel a similar mixture of emotions as the woman in front of her, and she could feel moisture welling up in her eyes, moisture which it took every ounce of Isabel's self-control to keep from becoming tears as she raised her voice almost to yelling volume, but not quite loud enough for anyone outside the bathroom to hear it as she shook her head frantically. "No! That isn't true!" Isabel pointed at Moira accusingly. "He picked you over me! You, and Oliver, and Thea, who wasn't even his!"

"He thought of her as his. He was there when she was born. He was there when she took her first steps. He raised Thea, and he loved her even after he found out she wasn't his biological child. Now, you can choose to believe that or not, but if you ever have any children of your own, Ms. Rochev, you will understand what a parent's love for a child means someday. But the point is, Robert didn't choose us over you. He choose his children, and you, over me. You are fighting a battle you have already won. Now that you know that, please, put aside your pointless vendetta against my family and leave my children alone!"

Isabel shook her head again. "But…I don't understand. If what you are saying is true, if Robert was going to leave you while trying to keep Oliver and Thea …why did he fire me in the first place?!"

Moira shook her head. "He didn't. I used my connections with Queen Consolidated to make sure you were quickly let go, while arranging for you to get a better paying job in Coast City while Robert was busy tending to Thea. I thought if I did that, and made it look like my husband had fired you, you would stay away and I would have a chance to keep my family together. Obviously, I was wrong, and Robert was furious when he found out what I had done." Moira looked down pointedly at Isabel's shaking fist at her sides. "And it looks like you are very upset about it, too."

"Upset!" Isabel only just managed to keep her voice below a scream. "Upset doesn't even begin to describe it! I'm..."

Moira cut Isabel off. "Fine. Be mad. At me. If you must blame someone other than Malcolm Merlyn for what happened to Robert, blame me. Do whatever you have to to me to get it out of your system. But leave my children out of it! None of it was their fault!" Now it was Moira who was almost screaming, with the heavy oak door behind her all that was keeping her voice from reaching outside the bathroom. "You won, Isabel! I lost Robert, and you won! Isn't that enough?!" Evidently unable to stay in the room with Isabel one more second, the Queen matriarch unlocked the door, stormed out of the room, and slammed the door behind her.

Isabel, however, lingered behind and eventually made her way to the kitchen sink, where she stared at her own face in the mirror, noticing for the first time that her eyes had finally given up trying to hold their moisture in, and tears were freely running her face now, ruining her make-up and leaving two dark, messy trails running down her face as the hazel eyed woman shook her head as she muttered to herself. "You're wrong, Moira. Robert Queen is dead. We both lost."

As soon as Isabel had spoken those words, the room started to feel like it was spinning around her as she began to process everything Moira had said, and the dark haired woman had to hold onto the sink to keep from falling to the floor as she was overwhelmed by a surge of sadness, confusion and panic as she thought over everything that had happened over the past few months. When she had started this endeavor to destroy Oliver Queen and his family she had** known** that the Queen children were spoiled, selfish, irresponsible people who were completely dependent on their family's connections, that Moira was a selfish, manipulative bitch, and that the three of them were the reason that Robert had stayed in Starling and was now dead. The trouble was, it had turned out that pretty much everything she **knew **had been wrong. Oliver was a much more capable man than appearances indicated, as evidenced by the fact that he was fighting for his family's company in the board room during the day while simultaneously fighting for the people of Starling during his nights, and, over time Isabel had even come to care for the man. And, as manipulative as Moira was, she seemed absolutely driven to protect her children, and seemed to be willing to do anything to do that, including bearing the full weight of the brunette's vengeance. Even though Isabel still didn't like the woman, she admitted to herself that she had not given the Queen matriarch enough credit, and the same could be said for Thea, who had been as devoted a daughter as Oliver was a son, as evidenced by the fact that both of the Queen "children" had been there for Moira throughout her trial, and were not present at this party. And now…now Isabel knew that the Queens hadn't had anything to do with Robert's death, either. For the man hadn't picked his family over her. He had chosen to try to keep his children, and Starling, safe, and have her at the same time. But thanks to Malcolm Merlyn, that endeavor had been cut short.

Isabel finally composed herself and stood up from the sink, not bothering to pay attention to the large pieces of porcelain that fell away from the sink as she released her iron grip on it, and cleaned up her make-up as best she could before heading out of the bathroom, where she was greeted by the sight of Oliver Queen softly talking to his still visibly upset mother just outside the doorway. "Are you sure everything is okay? What did you and Isabel talk about?"

Moira forced a smile, although it was obviously faked. "I told you, Oliver, I'm fine. And Ms. Rochev and I were just discussing some unimportant stuff that you wouldn't want to hear about."

Oliver sighed. "I'm not five, anymore, mom, and contrary to popular belief, I'm not stupid. I know that you aren't…" But the blond haired man stopped mid-sentence after he noticed Isabel, who was now edging her way closer to the front door of the Queen Mansion with an obviously distressed look on her face and her mascara in a mess. "Are you alright, Miss Rochev?"

Isabel reluctantly turned toward Oliver and forced a smile while saying she was fine, although from the look on Oliver's face, the hazel-eyed woman knew the man wasn't convinced that everything was okay, so she continued. "I think I was just suffering from some allergies and a stomach bug, and your mom was gracious enough to show me where the medicine cabinet was in the guest bathroom. I'm feeling a little better now, but I think I should head back to my apartment now."

"Exactly." Moira jumped in. "See? I told you everything was fine and that we weren't talking about anything all that interesting."

Oliver glanced at first his mother, than Isabel with a suspicious, but obviously concerned look. "Are you sure you are okay now, Isabel? Do you need me to drive you home or…"

Isabel shook her head no, and it took everything she had not to burst into tears again as she walked out the front door of the Queen mansion while thinking that the man whose life she had been trying to destroy, whose company she had been threatening to take over, had offered to make sure she got home safely. It was yet another in a long line of stupid, but noble gestures that only made the brunette love the man more, And that thought, that she had just realized that, as stupid as it was, she actually loved Oliver Queen, followed the woman as she got into her car and drove away, towards Slade's current hideout. Isabel knew that she needed to talk to the one-eyed man tonight. She had to try to make him understand that, for a variety of reasons she could no longer be part of the plan to destroy the Queen family. And if she failed to convince the man of that, which was likely, Isabel knew that she would not back down this time, even if it cost her life. One way or another, even if she had to leave his company in a body bag, Isabel Rochev was done working for Slade Wilson.

**Disclaimer (will be moved to chapter one later): Only this story is my creation, all Arrow characters, storylines, characters, etc. are properties of the CW, DC comics and their affiliates. Please don't try to sue me, anybody. You would be wasting your time on someone as poor as me and it would be like trying to get blood from a stone. (Sorry, I just forgot to write this at the beginning of my story).**

**AN**: **Okay, so several things to say about this chapter. One, I don't know if my sequence of events for Robert's affair with Isabel and the Undertaking were right, but since there was so much we don't know about that sequence of events from the show, and I think we don't even know (again based on the show itself) how old Isabel is supposed to be during the events of season 2, I decided to sequence those events the way I did in this chapter to make things more interesting.**

** Now, onto my characterization of Robert Queen. One of the things I find so interesting about Arrow is how many of the characters in it are morally ambiguous, and Robert is no exception. From the show's portrayal of the man, based upon flashback sequences and what people said about him, Robert was a deeply flawed man, especially in his dealings with women, and I thought my portrayal of the man should reflect that. However, it is also clear that the man loved both of his children, including Thea, who wasn't biologically his, and his city, and he wouldn't abandon either of those things, nor did the man, as a corporate tycoon, seem afraid to go after the things, or people, he wanted, so I thought those aspects of the man should be represented in the story as well.**

** But Robert's story, and the man's dealings with Isabel, only make up the backdrop for my tale, which is about Oliver and his evolving relationship with Isabel, as these two flawed individuals do their best to make the most of their chaotic lives, which have been effected by the sins of others and their own deeds as a result of a few slightly different actions that Oliver takes in this story as compared to cannon. **

** In other words, my story is only partly about the sins of the father, and it has much more to do with the deeds of the son. And for those of you waiting for the action parts of my story, rest assured, there will be some of that in the next chapter. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, but please let me know what you think about it in a review or PM. Your input is greatly appreciated, so thanks go to everyone who has given me input about this story. And a big thank you to my beta reader. This story would look worse than a first-grader's writing assignment without your help!**

**-supercode**

**P.S. In case anyone doesn't recognize it, this chapter is a heavily modified version of the parlor scene from the episode, "The Scientist", in case any of you want to watch it and refresh your memory about how things were different in cannon.**


	6. The Tipping Point

Isabel Rochev suppressed a frown as she watched Oliver and Moira Queen talking to several detectives through the glass while fielding an annoying phone call from the press on her cell, and wondered at the fact that she didn't feel like dancing right now. She was supposed to be enjoying this. Watching Slade make Moira and Oliver suffer by taking Thea away from them and agonizing over what had happened to the youngest Queen. But Isabel didn't feel that way at all, and the clarity that Slade had promised her when he forced another cup of Mirakuru laced tea down her throat almost immediately after she tried to confront him about giving up on his plan had not materialized …at least not for long. Oh, her anger at the Queens had returned after Slade forced her to drink the beverage which Isabel had known he was drugging her with. But that anger didn't seem to make logical sense to her anymore, now that she knew that Robert hadn't intended to leave her for his family, so they could not be responsible for his death. And maybe it was because she had managed to hold a small portion of the tea in her mouth and spit it out before the new batch of the substance could become active in her system, while Slade was distracted talking to his imaginary friend, but the anger didn't seem to be quite as powerful or lasting as the last time the one-eyed man had made her ingest the substance. In fact, Isabel guessed that she still would have stopped going along with Slade's plan the night of Moira's party, if it weren't for the hallucinations that had come along with the second batch of the Mirakuru…Whatever the case may be, Isabel now felt a strange mixture of affection and hatred toward Oliver Queen whenever she looked at the man, and it had only been her hallucinations (which she knew weren't real, but she just couldn't seem to stop herself from listening to) that had kept her following Slade's plan the last couple of months.

But now, seeing Moira Queen crying what were obviously very real tears, and the concerned looks her estranged son was sending her, Isabel felt more guilt than happiness that she had been complicit in Slade's plan to split apart the Queen family by sowing seeds of mistrust (which Moira had already done a great job of starting to do on her own) before destroying them and the rest of Starling City. Instead of feeling happy that the woman she had hated for years, the same woman who had insinuated she was a wicked witch earlier today, had pretty much lost her son, and was about to lose her daughter, Isabel was preoccupied with thoughts about how all of this was effecting Oliver. And much of the anger that she had been feeling for that man seemed to have been replaced with sympathy, as Oliver, furious at his helplessness to get his sister back, paced nervously around the room. For what felt like the thousandth time, part of Isabel wanted to get out of Slade's plan, despite her anger and her hallucination's urging her to continue. But another part of Isabel still wanted to make the Queens suffer as she had suffered when Robert died. That event that had caused her to take a week of unpaid leave off of work right after that happened to mourn the man's passing alone. During most of that week, Isabel had cried almost constantly, until her pain and sadness had finally turned to anger at the Queens, an anger Slade Wilson had been only too willing to exploit. Then she had vowed that she would never cry again… a promise she had broken the night of Moira's party. Besides, the brunette knew that Slade would never let her back out of the plan and live. So now, Isabel was torn about what to do as she tapped on the glass and motioned for Oliver to join her in the board room. All she knew was that, one way or another, business at Queen Consolidated had to keep going today.

After Isabel was able to hang up the phone and Oliver complimented her for getting the press off his family's back, she informed him that he had to be at a meeting tonight, despite Thea's disappearance, to vote on new officers for the company. Predictably, Oliver tried to get out of it and put the responsibility entirely on her shoulders, and the brunette had to explain to him that she couldn't legally do that, and that Oliver had to be there for the board meeting tonight. And like she had many times before, Isabel felt anger towards the man for both his ignorance of corporate law and policy, and for slacking off in upholding his responsibilities to the company his father had built. However, despite the presence of the Mirakuru in her system, her anger was mixed with an admiration for the same noble impulses that kept Oliver away from the board room, and on the streets as the Arrow, so often. Isabel felt genuine sympathy for the gray eyed man's predicament, despite the irrational anger for the man that still burned within her. And it was because all these mixed feelings toward the man that, when Isabel suggested that Oliver could make someone temporary CEO of Queen Consolidated to take his place in the board room, and the blonde haired man had instantly made her CEO, thus falling into her and Slade's trap, that Isabel was at a loss about what to do after Oliver left the room. Now, a few minutes later, after Moira and all the detectives had left the floor, Isabel was alone in the boardroom with the document that Oliver had signed to make her CEO still in front of her.

Isabel Rochev knew this was a decisive moment, a tipping point. That what she did with the power that Oliver had just given her would decide the destiny of both herself and Oliver Queen. The brunette knew that the easiest thing to do would be to take the company away from Oliver now, which would not be very hard considering how little faith the board of Queen Consolidated had in the male co-CEO's leadership, and go ahead with Slade's plan. But Isabel knew that if she did so, there would be no turning back, for the damage to the Queen family's company and bank accounts, would already be done. After that, Oliver would never trust her again, so she would not be able to back out of her deal with Slade and help the blonde man even if she wanted to. On the other hand, if she was ever going to back out of helping Slade, as she wanted to do because she had been feeling more love than hatred for Oliver for at least several days now, this would be an ideal moment for her to do so. After all, no lasting harm had come to Oliver or any of the members of his family yet, and even the damaged relationships between the members of that family could still be repaired. If she didn't abuse the power that Oliver had given her by stealing the company away from him now, and if she told him everything she knew about Slade's plan as soon as possible, she might be able to convince the Arrow that she could be trusted… at least enough that he would let her help him stop Slade. And after she helped him to accomplish that…

Isabel's train of thought was cut off by a voice that only she could hear. "After that, your betrayal of my memory will be complete! You need to avenge me, Isabel! If you ever loved me, you will go ahead with the plan and destroy my son, not help him!"

Isabel turned toward the apparition of Robert Queen that had appeared on the opposite end of the board room table from the brunette. Once again, the hazel-eyed woman found herself compelled to listen to her hallucination as she had felt compelled to do so many times since Slade had dosed her with the second batch of Mirakuru laced tea, although she knew that the "Robert" in front of her was only a hallucination. But for the first time, fueled by her love for Oliver and a determination to reclaim her mind, Isabel found the will to resist the apparition's words enough to argue with it. Isabel noted the fact that she was about to knowingly have a verbal argument with a hallucination caused by her own drug-addled mind didn't disturb her nearly as much as it should have. The woman took that as an indication that she probably hadn't been all that sound mentally even before Slade had started dosing her with Mirakuru. The hazel eyed woman decided none of that mattered now as she fought to regain some control over her actions from her hallucinations and delusions. "I did love Robert. But you aren't him. You are just a byproduct of the Mirakuru in my system, a figment of my imagination. And I am done letting you and Slade control me!"

"Robert" frowned. "Whether I am real or not is of no consequence. You must avenge Robert Queen now! He would have wanted you to…"

Isabel's shouting interrupted her own hallucination's words, and the co-CEO was very grateful there was no one else in the room, that no one could see exactly how crazy she had become because of Slade's meddling. "To do what?! Continue to live a lie and pretend I'm someone I'm not? To hide my feelings from the world, like I did for him?!" Isabel was surprised at her own outburst as she realized just how much anger toward Robert Queen himself she had suppressed over the years for making her live a lie for months. As much as she had loved the man, she had never wanted the kind of "relationship" that Robert and herself had back then. She hadn't wanted to be Robert Queen's dirty little secret. The mistress. She had even heard the words "office whore" used to describe her on more than one occasion around Queen Consolidated back then. She had wanted to be the man's wife, or at least his girlfriend. To be able to be in an actual, public relationship with the man that she loved instead of the woman the man was cheating on his wife with. But Robert Queen had insisted on keeping their relationship a secret until Isabel, finally overwhelmed with guilt over the affair after several months, had threatened to break off her relationship with the man entirely. Robert had responded by offering to run away with her and divorce his wife. She, the young naïve woman that she had been back then, had accepted the offer from the only man that had made her feel loved since she had been twelve years old. Then Robert Queen had left her. And then, after the wreck of the Queen's Gambit, the man had died. Just like every other person she had ever loved. After that, something inside Isabel had broken, the part of her heart that could bring itself to care about other people. To feel anything other than anger and hatred and greed. Until recent events had occurred, the brunette had thought that part of her had been broken irreparably…

Shaking off that particular line of thinking, Isabel continued her argument with her own subconscious. "It doesn't matter, anyway. Robert would have wanted me to protect his family! He loved Oliver and Thea, and he would never want me to hurt them!" Isabel felt tears falling down her face, but she quickly wiped them away as she added. "The real Robert would probably be ashamed that I have gone along with a plan to hurt his children this long! But that doesn't matter either, now… because Robert Queen is dead!" Isabel scowled at the apparition of Robert in front of her. "Like I said. You aren't real and I'm not going to listen to you anymore!"

And suddenly, Isabel was alone in the board room, for her hallucination of Robert Queen had vanished as soon as the woman had made her declaration of freedom from "him." For the first time in days, Isabel smiled. "I'm free."

…several hours later

Oliver Queen dashed into the boardroom, past a security guard, while mentally chiding himself for having done something as monumentally stupid as leaving his business rival in control of his company. But then, the blonde man admitted to himself, he hadn't been thinking clearly since this whole business with Slade had started… or since he had met Isabel, who had been on his mind a lot lately. Both of those preoccupations had caused him to make some really bad decisions lately… and ironically, one good one. Oliver knew that, among other things, it had been a bad move to release Slade into police custody instead of pumping the man for info about Thea's whereabouts, and to ignore all of the signs that Roy's aggression was getting worse while separating the boy from Thea, the only person that knew how to calm him down. All of those actions had been motivated by his panic when he discovered Slade was alive and once again after him and his family.

On the other hand, Oliver knew that he had been right to reject Sara's advance on him a little over a month ago after the woman had been released from the League of Assassins. That decision, choosing not to make the same old mistakes with the youngest Lance all over again, had made it easier for the woman to reconcile with Laurel and the rest of her family. But, if Oliver were honest with himself, that hadn't been the reason he had turned Sara down when she had propositioned him. The truth was, when Sara had kissed him, the memory of Isabel doing the same thing to him months ago had leapt immediately into his mind, and Oliver could not help comparing those two moments in his head, and coming to the conclusion that he had felt… something when kissing Isabel that just wasn't there with Sara. That was the real reason he had pulled away from the younger woman and told Sara that they should stay friends. However, Oliver knew that after a few weeks of awkwardness between him and the blonde, things had turned out better for the Lances because he had made that decision. Even so, Oliver knew that did not make up for his incredibly dumb choice to leave the company in Isabel's hands, which had at least partially been motivated by his feelings for her, and that he wanted to be able to trust the brunette.

Oliver did accede to himself that he had been thinking even less clearly than usual when he made Isabel temporary CEO, since he had been desperate to get out of his responsibilities to the board and find his sister. Even so, he knew that it had been very stupid for him to leave the company in the hands of the hazel-eyed woman who had threatened to take over said company months ago. This was especially true since, whatever amicable feelings the woman had developed towards him after Russia, if they had ever existed to begin with, had seemed to cool somewhat after the night of his mother's party. The woman had been smiling at him less often since that night, and she would often seem agitated in his presence, although her behavior towards himself and Felicity had not become as hostile as it had been at first. In any case, whether her feelings for his person were real or faked, Oliver knew it had been idiotic of him to leave the company in the woman's hands, a thought that had finally entered his brain shortly after talking to Slade in the police station. And that panicked thought, that Isabel might be, or may already have, used the power which Slade had given to her, to try to take over Queen Consolidated, had sent Oliver racing back here to Queen Consolidated Headquarters. He knew he had to see what damage Isabel might have caused in his absence, and see if it was too late to stop any moves the brunette may be making to claim his family's company. Oliver's nervousness had only increased when he discovered that a full board meeting was currently in session, and the security guard on that floor did not want to let him in the room because the blonde haired man had temporarily signed over the company to Isabel, so Oliver did not presently have a stake in the company. Oliver Queen could honestly have said that he could not have been more surprised at what he found when he brushed past the security guard and caught the end of Ms. Rochev's closing remarks to the board.

"So," The hazel-eyed woman continued speaking. "As you can see from the polls I just showed you, there has been a huge increase in positive sentiment towards the Queen family since Thea Queen's kidnapping, and it would be a disastrous blow to our company's already dismal PR if we didn't give Oliver Queen our full support during his family's present crisis. Despite the man's recent …sporadic interest in the company's affairs. To do otherwise at this point could affirm many people's perspective that Queen Consolidated is a soulless corporation with a non-family friendly environment that cares about nothing but money. And we all know that we don't need any more of that kind of publicity after a certain …event last year." Several people coughed awkwardly and many people reluctantly nodded their heads in agreement. Isabel then looked up to see Oliver Queen storming into the room and a security guard following him while apologizing for having let Oliver get past him. Isabel replied to this apology with a smile. "There's no need to apologize. After the conclusion of this meeting, Oliver Queen will be my co-CEO again, after all." Isabel looked right at Oliver as she continued speaking. "He belongs here just as much as I do. Now..." The brunette turned back to the other members of the board at the same time Oliver was struggling to keep his mouth from hanging open in shock while Isabel resumed speaking. "I think that concludes our business for the day, everyone. If no one has any objections, I am going to declare this meeting adjourned."

Within moments, all of the other board members, as well as one very relieved security guard, left the room, and one very surprised and grateful Oliver Queen was left standing in the board room alone with Isabel, and the man could only think of one thing to say "Thank you."

The blonde haired man's bewilderment was only increased by the brunette's response, as the woman shook her head and sighed. "You really shouldn't be thanking me, Oliver."

It was then Oliver's turn to shake his head. "Why wouldn't I want to thank you?! I made an impulsive decision back there, when I made you temporary CEO and …you could easily have used that power to try to take over Queen Consolidated again," Oliver noted that Isabel had visibly flinched at that observation, but he choose to ignore it. "But, whatever your reasons were, you didn't do that. And what's more, you actually encouraged the board to support me and my family. Considering how much you would have stood to gain by trying to turn the board against me, that meant a lot, especially now, with everything happening with Thea."

Isabel sighed again. "Yes. Trying to use this opportunity to take over Queen Consolidated was part of the original plan." Seeing the frown that had just appeared on Oliver's face, the brunette quickly added. "But I've obviously decided to do something else."

Oliver nodded his head, not fully understanding the meaning behind Isabel's words. "Yes, you did. And I am very grateful for that. But I need to get back out there and try to see if anyone has found my sister yet."

And with that, Oliver turned to leave the boardroom, but he was stopped by Isabel's words. "You don't need to do that, Oliver, Thea's fine."

Oliver sighed and turned around to face the hazel eyed woman. "Look, I appreciate your support and your optimistic appraisal of my sister's situation, but I am more interested in finding my sister than in words right now. So I'm going to go and…."

Isabel cut Oliver off. "Thea's fine because Slade Wilson doesn't want your sister dead. Not yet. He wanted to scare you, and let you know that he can hurt the people you care about. And he has, just not physically. Again, not yet."

Oliver Queen was just barely able to keep the rage he now felt from appearing on his face, although the look in his eyes still made his fury toward Isabel quite obvious as his previous gratitude toward Isabel was quickly forgotten. "How do you know Slade Wilson and what do you know about my sister! Tell me! Now!"

Isabel only nodded in reply to Oliver's yelling before she spoke, choosing to reply to Oliver's second question first. "I know that Slade hasn't laid a hand on Thea yet, and that she is probably on her way safely home as we speak, because as I said, Slade is trying to make a point right now. I also know that Slade had already told Thea one, if not both, of two things. That Malcolm Merlyn was her biological father, or that you are the Arrow."

Oliver let his agitation at Isabel exhibit itself on his face as he thought about Slade Wilson, and Isabel's apparent involvement with the man. He hardly noticed Isabel gulping as he quickly walked toward the woman and backed her against the long table she had been standing in front of. "I am going to ask you nicely only one more time. How do you know all of this and how do you know Slade Wilson?!"

Oliver barely noticed Isabel hold her head down in shame as she replied. "Because I was working for him."

At those words from the hazel eyed woman's mouth, Oliver Queen lost control of his anger entirely as he attempted to pin Isabel to the table behind her …only to be pinned to said table himself when the woman moved even quicker then him, ducked behind his person, and forcefully moved his head onto the table. Then she continued to hold Oliver down with a feat of strength the man found surprising, considering the woman's small frame. The hazel eyed woman then resumed speaking, in a calm voice that seemed incongruent with the situation as she held Oliver, who was still struggling to break free from her grip, down on the table with seemingly minimal effort. "I said _was_ working for him, Oliver. Past tense. If I was still working for Slade, I wouldn't have told you that, and I certainly wouldn't let you walk away from a physical altercation with me alive if I could prevent you from doing so. But, as further evidence that I'm not working for that one-eyed psychopath anymore, I'm going to let you go now. Call it an act of good faith. I know how smart you are, Oliver. So use that brain of yours and figure it out."

After Isabel had let Oliver free from her grip, the man was still visibly agitated, but he managed to overcome his anger and not attack the brunette again as her words sank it. She did make sense. Slade would never willingly give up a tactical advantage, such as having a mole inside Oliver's company, unless he had already exploited that person as much as possible against him. And Isabel had certainly not acted like his enemy in that board room earlier that evening. Still, with Slade, Oliver knew he could never be too careful. "Let's say I believe you. That you _were _working for Slade, but you decided to flip on him. Why would you possibly do that when you know how dangerous that man is? And why did you agree to work with him in the first place?"

Isabel frowned. "I agreed to work with Slade with certain …prejudices against you and your family in my mind that came from some …unique experiences I had with your family years ago. I'm afraid we don't have time to go into specifics right now. Suffice to say, my presuppositions about you and your family turned out to be wrong. Very wrong. So I decided I couldn't go through with helping Slade."

Oliver arched his right eyebrow skeptically. "That's not good enough. Convince me I can trust you. What, specifically, changed your mind?"

Isabel once again looked at Oliver Queen the way she had done many times since Russia. "Mostly? You did. You weren't what I expected you to be at all …and then I found out the kind of person you really were. That you are brave, intelligent, compassionate, and lonely. I knew I just couldn't go through with Slade's plans to destroy you." A mixture of confusion and recognition passed over Oliver's face as he figured out what Isabel was getting at. She had turned on Slade because she had developed feelings for him.

Before Oliver could process that truth and how he felt about it, much less respond to Isabel's words, the brunette woman changed the course of the discussion. "We don't have time to discuss this right now. Thea may be fine, although I suggest you come clean with her and your mom about being the Arrow and your family's secret later before Slade can do any more damage to the relationships between the three of you. However, you should know that my former employer has been using this whole situation as a diversion. He is going to hijack a prison bus transporting a bunch of inmates bound for the recently repaired wing of Iron Heights prison so that he can free the prisoners and use Mirakuru to turn them into his own private army to threaten Starling City with." Before Oliver could even voice his question of how Slade could make that much Mirakuru without the centrifuge he had destroyed, Isabel answered his unspoken query. "He was going to use Queen Consolidated's Applied Science's division to make more of the serum after I took control of the company for him. But we both know Slade is smart and that he'll find another way to make the Mirakuru now. We have to stop him from acquiring an army he can use it on." Isabel pulled a sheet of paper out of a file folder on the table. "I don't know where Slade plans to stop the prisoner transport, but he did share with me the route the bus is going to take to get here. The transport shouldn't be arriving in Starling for another half hour or so. If I show you the route now, we should be able to track the vehicle and intercept Slade when he tries to stop it. "

Oliver noticed that Isabel was now fumbling around in her purse on the table for a pen, and decided to get one of his own out of one of his suit pockets, but as he quickly drew the pen out of his jacket and offered to let Isabel use his, he ended up stabbing her in the hand with the pen hard enough to draw blood. Oliver quickly covered first Isabel's hand, then the pen with two different handkerchiefs and stuck the pen back into his pocket. "I'll just clean that off later. Sorry about that."

Isabel gave Oliver an angry, suspicious look, but shrugged it off as she got out her own pen with her uninjured hand. "Don't worry about it. I'm a fast healer. Anyway, let me show you the route that Slade is going to be following so we can stop him. And while I'm at it, I will show you the most likely route that Thea is probably taking to get home. But don't have anyone go to the warehouse at the beginning of the route. There are a bunch of Slade's men there ready to kill you, or at least slow you down enough that you can't stop Slade from getting to the bus. You can arrange for someone to pick Thea up while we go stop Slade, if that will put your mind at ease enough for you to focus on defeating him." Isabel drew the bus route on a piece of paper and Oliver quickly memorized it.

After Oliver knew the prisoner transport's intended path, and Thea's, like the back of his hand less than 30 seconds after Isabel had drawn it, the blonde man nodded and looked at Isabel gravely. "I got it. Seeing as I have absolutely zero other leads on what Slade is doing right now or where my sister is, I guess I will have no choice but to trust that you are telling the truth for the time being and act on this information to bring Slade down and get my sister home safe. If what you are telling me is true though, you have put yourself at risk of Slade's wrath to help me. I want you to get yourself some place safe and wait for me to contact you after I settle things with Slade once and for all. This is personal, and I'm going to take him down alone."

Isabel rolled her eyes. "This isn't the time to be proud, Oliver. I know how well you can fight, but with the Mirakuru in his system, and all the experience Slade had gained over the years as an assassin, that man will kill you if you go alone. I think I just proved that I'm a capable fighter. Let me help you. Or at least bring some other reinforcements with you, like Roy, Diggle, and Sara…"

Oliver, now clearly agitated again, and trying to ignore how creeped out he was that Isabel knew so much about himself and his allies, cut Isabel off. "First off all, I'm not sure how much I can trust you yet. That this isn't some attempt for you and Slade to trap me. So I definitely don't trust you to have my back in a fight right now. If you try to follow me, you just might wind up with an arrow in your chest. And second of all, I'm not going to risk letting Slade hurt anyone else I care about. So if you are telling the truth, I will handle him myself." Oliver Queen turned and started walking out of the room and towards his secret changing room as he added over his shoulder. "And you damn well better be telling me the truth about Thea being safe. Because if you are lying, and my sister doesn't come home safe, I will kill both you and Slade, regardless of whatever else happens tonight."

Isabel followed Oliver though the otherwise empty floor as far as the elevator, and managed to yell two things at Oliver before the lift doors closed. "Fine, but don't ask Sebastian Blood for help, he is working for Slade! And don't mention anything I just told you while inside your family's mansion. Wilson had the whole place bugged!" Oliver just nodded neutrally in acknowledgment of Isabel's words, which he heard and processed, but didn't know whether or not to believe, as his mind was racing with thoughts about getting Thea home safe and taking down Slade. Meanwhile, his hand was already halfway down to the cellphone in his jacket to tell Diggle to retrieve Thea and get her home safely by any means necessary. Therefore, the gray eyed man was too preoccupied to notice that Isabel was already darting towards the stairs as fast as she could before the elevator doors in front of him had even closed.

….35 minutes later

Felicity Smoak's fingers flew over the keyboard in front of her like lightening as the nervous blonde continued her search for Oliver Queen, the man she was not-so-secretly in love with. She was conducting her search by hacking various traffic cameras and imaging satellites trying to find the man, heedless of the dozen or so laws she was breaking as she was doing so. It didn't really matter to the bespectacled blonde that it had only been twenty minutes since Oliver had made a frantic fifteen-second phone call to her in an anxious voice while announcing that he thought Thea was safe, he had sent Diggle to pick his sister up, and that he would be meeting up with the two of them shortly. And it certainly hadn't helped that the Arrow had then said something about Isabel Rochev working with Slade that Felicity hadn't been able to quite make out, before the man said he had to attend to something urgent, hung up and turned off his cellphone, something he never did. And that had sent up red flags for the I.T. almost immediately, especially after she discovered that Oliver had evidently taken out the batteries to said phone as well, since the hacker found that she couldn't even use an NSA database (the backdoor to which she had found a little under a year ago) to track it. The phone call that the blonde woman had received from Diggle only five minutes ago had only increased her anxiety, and her curiosity about were Oliver had disappeared to, when the former soldier announced he had already picked up one very unhappy Thea Queen and taken her home to her mother, but Oliver Queen was still nowhere to be found.

So transfixed was the blonde woman on her task to find Oliver that she barely registered the sound of screeching tires that Felicity guessed must have come from right outside the Verdant, since she could hear them from all the way down here. The blonde woman decided to ignore the noise at first. After all, the Glades had always been an …interesting place full of crime and other nighttime activities, and Felicity decided that any of the crime that was going on in the Glades right now would have to wait until she could find Oliver. The bespectacled woman became more nervous when she heard the unmistakable sound of shattering glass from the level above here, as Felicity finally figured out that the mysterious individual on the street was now breaking into the Verdant. Felicity gulped, cursing herself for forgetting to replace the building's security system after the last one had been broken by the Clock King, but continued working on the computer to find the Arrow. However, Felicity was now nervously chanting a mantra to herself to keep herself calm. It wasn't working. "It's going to be ok. It's going to be ok. It's going to be ok. No one is going to hurt you, Felicity. It's probably just some underage punks trying to rob the Verdant of as much alcohol as they can get their hands on. They will probably take what they want and leave without even noticing this lower level, which has a very strong lock on the door to access it from inside this building, by the way…" Felicity knew she was rambling nervously now, but she couldn't seem to help it at this point as she continued talking. "And you can tell Oliver, who is so going to be just fine, by the way, about what happened here after you find him. Yep, that's exactly what's going to happen."

Felicity had just started to calm down again after she had almost convinced herself that her own words were true, before she heard the unmistakable sound of a gunshot, muffled as it was by a silencer. That sound was immediately followed by a clanking of metal against metal as the lock to the door that lead from the Verdant proper to the basement broke and fell to the floor. Now Miss Smoak was right back to panicking again as she frantically looked around the room for a couple of seconds, looking for a place to hide, before the blonde woman heard someone clear her throat right behind her person. Felicity slowly spun around in her chair towards the intruder, and her panic only increased as she found herself directly facing the woman that she could now identify as Isabel Rochev. It took everything the bespectacled woman had to keep a nervous squeak out of her voice as she began talking to the woman in front of her. "Are you here to kill me, Miss Rochev? I know you work for Slade, but I warn you that if you hurt a hair on my head, the Arrow will…."

Felicity's voice was cut off after Isabel put her hand against the blonde woman's mouth, making her wonder for what felt like the hundredth time since she had begun working for the Arrow if she was going to die tonight as the brunette whispered. "Shut up. Stay here."

Felicity sat, still and quiet, while she wondered what was going on as Isabel, still clad in her outfit from the board meeting, was looking for something in various nooks and crannies of the Lair. After several seconds, the slightly older brunette sighed in apparent relief, and got a large gun out of her oversized purse, which Felicity looked at nervously before Isabel noticed this and resumed speaking. "Relax. The gun isn't for you, it's my insurance policy against Slade. I know that normal bullets won't do much to the man, but I figure a .50 round straight to the head should kill him when he decides to come after me. If he can't regenerate an eye, after all, I doubt he can make his head grow back." Isabel sighed and forced a smile onto her face. "Sorry about putting my hand over your mouth earlier. I didn't want you to say anything else in case Slade already had this place bugged, but apparently he either doesn't know about this place, which I followed the Arrow to several weeks ago, or he just hasn't gotten around to having it monitored yet. In either case, despite whatever Oliver has told you. I am not working for Slade Wilson. Not anymore. I'm trying to help Oliver stop Slade now. But I do know a little about what that one eyed bastard is planning. And I told Oliver about a prisoner shipment to the new wing of Iron Heights that Slade is going to intercept tonight, and the man stupidly went off charging after Slade alone…."

"If you are telling the truth, why didn't you go with him, or at least call someone else who could help him? And why wouldn't Oliver have called for backup?!" The still nervous Felicity interrupted Isabel before she could stop herself.

Isabel replied with another sigh. "Because Oliver is a smart man, but he can do very stupid things when he is trying to be noble. He didn't want backup, and he said something about there being personal business between him and Slade which I still don't know anything about. He also said that he didn't want anyone else to get hurt because of his conflict with Slade. And he said he didn't trust me to help him, not that I can really blame him for that, and your boss insinuated he might kill me if I tried to follow him to intercept Slade. As for getting Oliver help… That's why I'm here. I gambled that you might be here, looking for Oliver, and I know you are the one that knows how to get the kind of help the Arrow needs right now. So, I am going to tell you the area in which I think it is most likely that Oliver is trying to intercept Slade, and you are going to call everyone you can to the Arrow's aid. Diggle, Roy, the Canary, and anyone else you think may be able to help Oliver Queen defeat Slade. Any questions?"

Felicity gulped, as she thought that, if Isabel Rochev was telling the truth right now, Roy Harper had picked a very bad time to go AWOL earlier this evening. "Just one. How do I know that I can trust you? You have been trying to take over Oliver's company. And you just admitted to having worked for Slade. How do I know that you aren't leading Oliver, me, and our allies into a trap right now?"

Isabel shrugged. "You don't. But…" The brunette woman looked at Felicity meaningfully. "If you don't trust me now and get the Arrow help as soon as possible, then Oliver Queen is going to die tonight."

**AN: Well, that concludes that chapter. In case you couldn't tell from the title, this is where everything starts to change, and events will be taking a very different turn then they did in canon. I have been building up to this moment for the entire story so far, and I put a lot of thought and effort into it, so I hope you all liked it. But please give me your honest thoughts in a review, if you feel so inclined. I am always trying to improve my writing craft after all, and your input helps me to do that.**

**Once again, I would like to thank everyone that has read, favorited, and/or reviewed TSFTDS, which is, I believe, still the only Olibel fic on the net so far. Your input means a lot to me and inspires me to keep posting chapters to this story. And another big thank you to my beta reader, without whom this story would probably look like absolute gibberish to all my readers.**

**Until next time, I am…**

**-supercode**


	7. A Change in the Wind

Quickly thinking over the words Isabel had just uttered, "If you don't trust me now and get the Arrow help as soon as possible, then Oliver Queen is going to die tonight.", it didn't take Felicity long to make her decision. If there was any chance that Isabel was telling the truth, Felicity knew she had to do whatever she could to save Oliver. "Alright then."

Without another word, Felicity turned back towards her command center and called both Diggle and Sara to tell them what Oliver was up to and where they should start looking for him and Slade along the route. She tried to call Roy too, but, predictably, the young man didn't answer his phone, and she really didn't have time to look for him right now. Felicity sighed. She felt a little guilty for not telling Diggle and Sara where she had gotten her information about Oliver's whereabouts, but she knew that if she told them that Isabel had given her that info, that would start an argument about whether the female co-CEO's tip was legitimate. And despite her own doubts on that score, the tech genius knew that there was no time for such an argument if the Arrow's life was in danger. However, despite this rationalization, and even though she looked calm on the surface, Felicity was currently filled with anxiety due to a mixture of guilt and fear that this current situation was causing her. The fact that Slade had picked an incredibly smart route to hijack the bus along, since there were no traffic cameras along that stretch of road, alongside the truth that every satellite Felicity currently had access to was more than five minutes away from being able to get her a decent image of the route didn't help either. But none of that was quite as nerve wracking to Felicity as the presence of a certain brunette leaning over her shoulders trying to find any sign of Oliver on the computer monitors in front of the I.T. girl.

At first, Felicity tried to ignore the distraction that Miss Rochev was causing her, but after a little over a minute, she had had enough. "Would you mind giving me some space while I work please?!"

Isabel, with the same stoic appearance that had been on her face since she entered the Lair, still on her face, backed up several feet. "Sorry."

Even though the female executive's face hadn't show any remorse at all, the apology made Felicity do a quick double take towards the slightly older woman before quickly turning back towards the numerous computer monitors in front of her. Noticing that there was still no visual sign of Oliver Queen yet, and that her teammates currently had all the info they needed to find Oliver and would call back as soon as they found the man, the tech expert decided to voice her thoughts to the woman behind her. It wouldn't hurt to keep her mind off the fact that there was nothing she could do to help the man she loved at the present moment. "Wow. That's two apologies in less than ten minutes. That's more than I've got out of you since…well, since you started treating me like crap on the first day you started working at Queen Consolidated. What's up with that, anyway?"

Felicity didn't actually expect a verbal response of any kind to that rhetorical question, but surprisingly received one anyway from the woman standing behind her. "Seriously, you want to go into this now!? Oliver is out there trying to go after Slade on his own and putting himself in danger of getting killed and you, the one who is supposed to be getting him help, want to go into something as trivial as workplace dynamics at a time like this!?" Although the blonde woman was still staring intently at the monitors looking for Oliver, she could clearly tell from Isabel's annoyed tone of voice that the brunette had just rolled her eyes.

Felicity shrugged. "Considering that, at this current moment, there is absolutely nothing that I can do to help Oliver besides calling for help, which I have already done, and that talking sometimes helps me to calm down in tense moments like this, and that this is the first time that I've had the chance to talk to you as a person, instead of as my boss's business partner…." The blonde techie realized she was rambling again and cut herself off before ending her thought. "Yes. Now would be a good time to discuss this."

The blonde woman heard Isabel sigh. "Fine. I guess that mouth of yours is something I will need to get used to then. To be perfectly honest, I don't like you very much…."

"Shocker." Felicity interjected sarcastically.

The brunette continued speaking, ignoring the blonde's comment. "And I know that you don't like me much, either. To list just a few problems I have with you: it bothers me that you obviously need other people to like you so much. Also, you talk too much. You're smart, very smart if that NSA logo on that monitor to your right indicates that you actually broke into that agency's computer system, but you let your emotions control you too much, which is why you're a nervous rambler. Plus, you are one of the Arrow's assistants, but if the lack of muscle tone on your body, and the fact that you didn't even try to apprehend me when I broke into the lair, is any indication, you don't actually know how to fight, even though you obviously have the spirit of a fighter, given that you were threatening me earlier. And someday, your lack of fighting experience may just get you killed. You have so much potential and you are wasting it!"

Felicity, still sitting at her command center, was momentarily taken aback by Isabel's statements before she responded to them several seconds later. "That's the greatest example of backhanded complimenting I have ever heard. Even when you compliment me, you insult me. How do you do that?"

"It's a gift." Isabel paused for several seconds and added. "I was actually trying to extend an olive branch to you earlier so that you would help me help Oliver but…, you brought this personal stuff up."

Felicity sighed. "I guess that's true. Sorry I asked."

After almost a minute of awkward silence, during which there was still no update on Oliver Queen's status, Isabel spoke again. "But I guess none of those reasons I gave you really explain the level of hostility I have showed for you in the past... I guess the real reason I don't like you very much is that… I have been a little jealous of you."

That declaration actually got the tech genius's attention enough to make her turn around toward the slightly older woman for a full second before looking back at the monitors. "You are jealous of me? Why in the world would someone like you, a successful business executive who looks like, well…you, be jealous of a sec…executive assistant like me?"

Isabel opened her mouth, then closed it (making an audible sound with her mouth the tech genius could hear), before shaking her head, making Felicity guess Isabel had thought of a response to her query, then changed her mind about what to say. "It doesn't matter anymore. We're on the same side now, so we will have to learn to work together, regardless of our differences. We have no choice."

Miss Smoak shook her head. "If that was your attempt at making peace with me, then you should know that you seriously need to work on your social skills."

"Yes, I suppose that's true. I guess it's been a long time since I've actually gone out of my way to try to be nice to someone. I'm out of practice. Slade always told me that showing kindness to people makes you weak, and I may have absorbed that lesson a little too well." Isabel laughed bitterly. "Don't worry though, you probably won't have to put up with me and my lack of interpersonal skills for very much longer."

Felicity shrugged and politely asked the most obvious question in response to Isabel's statement, although she really didn't care what the answer to her query was. "Really? And why is that?"

The tone of Isabel's words as she gave her response was deadly serious. "Because I will probably be dead soon. Slade doesn't deal kindly with traitors. And after he finds out I flipped on him and sided with Oliver, well… there's a reason one of the man's nicknames in the mercenary circuits is 'The Terminator.' He has never failed to kill a single target, and I just put myself on Slade's own personal hit list."

Felicity had no witty retort for that, as it finally occurred to her that Isabel was risking everything to help Oliver Queen right now (for it seemed very unlikely to her at this point that Isabel would have put up with her questioning this long if she was lying). And that, along with the fact that Isabel was evidently at least trying to make peace with her person, was something that the I.T. expert could appreciate about the business executive, even if she still came across as a bit of a bitch. Before the bespectacled woman could voice her appreciation for Isabel's help or reassure the brunette that Team Arrow always took care of its allies, however, a worried voice crackled in her ear piece. Felicity's face became slightly pale after she heard the word on the other end of the line before she replied to them. "Alright we… I mean I, will be ready for him once you bring him back. Please keep me updated on the situation as soon as you know more."

Obviously seeing the panic in Felicity's expression, Isabel spoke in a demanding tone. "What is going on, Felicity?! Is Oliver okay? Tell me!"

Felicity's voice shuddered a little. "Uh, we're not sure yet. Diggle said he and Sara just found Oliver, but it looks like he isn't doing too well fighting Slade and he appears injured. It looks like you were telling the truth after all. Sadly, Diggle can't tell how badly Ollie is hurt yet."

Isabel shook her head in obvious frustration. "So Oliver's getting his ass kicked, just like I told him he would if he went after Slade alone. Stupid!"

Felicity briefly turned around toward Isabel to reply to her. The I.T. girl didn't care how much Isabel had risked to help Oliver. In her book, that did not give the brunette the right to call the man who had sacrificed so much to protect Starling City "stupid." "Oliver Queen is not stupid! He's just a little… impulsive sometimes when it comes to trying to protect the people he cares about."

After the Arrow's tech assistant turned back to the monitors, Isabel snapped at the younger woman's words. "I know that! If Oliver Queen wasn't intelligent, he wouldn't have been able to survive five years stranded on an island alone, and he certainly wouldn't have succeeded at being the Arrow this long without dying! But like you said, the man is impulsive, and he sometimes does stupid things when it comes to the people he cares about. I figured that out about Oliver a while back. Which is why I was just calling myself stupid for telling Oliver where Slade was when he was already so worried about his sister. I should have known that the man would react to receiving that info in that particular moment by doing something really dumb. If he dies now, it will be partially my fault that…"

Isabel's words came to an abrupt end, however, when one of Felicity's monitors announced that once of the satellites the genius had hacked had finally gotten a visual of Oliver's position from the location Diggle had given her. When that same monitor showed the Arrow's current predicament on live video, the blood in the veins of both of the two women who loved Oliver Queen ran cold.

* * *

><p>…Elsewhere<p>

Oliver Queen grunted as Slade Wilson slammed his boot into his stomach then screamed in pain when the older man drew his sword and cut into the Arrow's shoulder in one fluid motion. All that Oliver could think about right now, other than his pain and the fact that Isabel had obviously been right about him not being able to take down Slade alone, as the man with the eye patch and the prisoners he had just freed were currently demonstrating as they beat him up, was how sorry he was that he hadn't believed Isabel. In hindsight, Oliver could see that the brunette had obviously had a real change of heart motivated by feelings for his person, and she had even risked her life to help him. And how had he repaid her? By threatening to put an arrow in her chest, then running of half-cocked after Slade. Right now, the billionaire thought to himself, it seemed there was a high probability that that move was going to get him killed, and there was a good chance that Slade would kill Isabel next for betraying him. Motivated by that last thought, Oliver found the strength to redouble his efforts to escape from Slade and get back to the Lair, where he would ask Felicity to make sure nobody had tried to harm Isabel yet. But Slade just smirked in response to the Arrow's efforts as Oliver tried to roll away, only to be kicked back toward the one-eyed man by one of the many inmates that Slade had "liberated" from the prisoner transport vehicle that had just arrived in Starling City five minutes ago. Wilson let out a hollow laugh from the back of his throat. "I don't know how you knew I would be here, Oliver, but by trying to stop my plans, all you have succeeded in doing was accelerating them."

Slade Wilson rolled Oliver Queen's body with his foot before placing that foot firmly on his nemesis's back. The emerald archer struggled with all his might to get out of this precarious position, but Slade Wilson's Mirakuru enhanced body was easily able to keep the Arrow pinned to the road before he continued speaking. "Since you were stupid enough to confront me alone, and you are currently helpless to save yourself, I am going to tell you exactly what I am about to do to you, old friend, so that you can live out the last of your remaining few days in fear as well as misery and pain. In a moment, I am going use the foot I have on your back to break your spine. You will then be paralyzed, but I will not let you die right away. No, I will keep you alive long enough to keep my promise to you. I will make sure you survive long enough to see everyone you care about suffer and die. Your mother, your poor, angry, defenseless sister, and every member of your little team of so-called heroes will be just some of my victims. And don't worry, I will also find whoever it was that tipped you off about my location tonight and make them suffer as well. Last of all, you will get to watch your precious Starling City burn. Then, and only then, will I let you die."

Oliver's eyes widened in fear as he thought about all the people that he cared about that Slade had just threatened to kill. His mother, Thea, Diggle, Felicity, Sara, Roy, and finally Isabel, a woman whom, only now, at the apparent end of his life, he realized that he actually loved, despite how little sense that fact made. The Arrow's fist clenched as he realized that he was helpless to save all but one of the people Slade had just threatened. Oliver just hoped that the person he was about to attempt to save, using information that person had given him not an hour ago, would be able to accomplish what he could not and stop Slade. As Deathstroke lifted his boot of Oliver's back and held it above his nemesis in a dramatic fashion, Oliver Queen managed to speak after coughing up a small bit of blood caused by the injury Slade had just inflicted to his stomach. The billionaire just hoped Slade would buy the B.S. he was about to sell the one-eyed man, and that his guess about a particular individual's motivations was accurate. "My friend Sebastian Blood told me you would be here just 15 minutes ago. He told me he wanted to help me stop you. You see, he just figured out what you were really planning, that you weren't trying to save Starling from itself, like you had promised, but destroy it!" Oliver laughed. "If even your so-called followers don't believe in your plan, what hope do you really think you have of making these men you just recruited destroy an entire city?!"

The eyebrow over Slade's eye patch twitched. "I am capable of making people do many things, Mr. Queen. You have seen that for yourself. But thank you for informing me of Mr. Blood's betrayal. I shouldn't be surprised. The man always did strike me as too weak to help me see my plan through to the end. I will see to it that Brother Blood pays for his crimes against me with his own blood very soon. But now it is time for **your** punishment to truly begin." After speaking these words, Slade Wilson once again raised his foot, which he had put back on the ground for a moment after Oliver Queen's "revelation" about the turn-coat in Slade's organization, above Oliver's back.

` But before the one-eyed man could carry out his threat to break Oliver's spine, Oliver saw a small device land near his person. Less than a second later, the Arrow, and every other person within the device's area of effect, was forced to cover their ears after said device emitted a loud, high-pitched noise. Everyone in the device's blast radius experienced a painful, disorienting ringing in their ears. But Slade, with his super-human senses, seemed to be more effected by the device, which Felicity had nicknamed "The Canary Cry", than anyone else, and the one-eyed man soon fell down to the ground beside Oliver, completely disoriented.

Oliver was confused by this turn of events, because he remembered that Sara Lance's original sonic device had been lost to her. But then he remembered that Felicity had promised to make another copy of the weapon, with a little help from some of her more discrete, tech savvy friends on the internet, based off the original design specs for the device that Sara had "acquired" during her League of Assassins days. Evidently, Oliver noted, Felicity had succeeded in accomplishing that feat at some point before tonight and had forgotten to tell him about it. Soon after her device had stopped making high pitched sounds, the owner of the new sonic weapon, the Canary (aka Sara Lance) leapt off of the top of the now somewhat faraway prisoner transport vehicle that Oliver's fight with Slade and the inmates had long since moved away from. The female vigilante then began knocking out several of the still incapacitated prison escapees in quick succession.

Eventually, several of the tougher convicts regained their faculties and began to charge at the black clad vigilante, but they were soon frightened off by the sound of gunfire. Oliver was just able to make out the vague shape of a black man with a sniper rifle standing on top of a nearby hill next to a limo in the distance. The male co-CEO guessed that the only person that Diggle was actually trying to kill was Slade Wilson, however, since none of the convicts around the one-eyed man were actually being hit by gunfire. Unfortunately, it seemed that the prisoners' stampede in multiple directions as they ran from the gunfire was preventing Diggle from getting a clear shot at his real target. Slade used the time the former inmates around him gave him after the fast healer recovered and, with several large leaps aided by his super strength, leaped far away from the other combatants and ran off into the night, away from even John Diggle's sniper rifle's range of fire.

However, by the time Oliver Queen had recovered enough from his injuries to turn his com link to Felicity on and tell the shouting and panicking I.T. girl he was okay, then pull himself off of the ground several seconds later and even incapacitate a few convicts with arrows to their knees (which Felicity, even in her worried state, found hysterical for some reason when he told her what he had just done) he was encouraged by two facts. One, from the looks of things, Sara had been able to apprehend (i.e. knock unconscious) at least several of the other prison escapees and tie them up, and the female vigilante was now in pursuit of several other criminals who Felicity was giving the Canary the present location of based upon satellite imagery. And two, from what Oliver had been able to make out from his former position on the ground, only about half a dozen of the men who had escaped successfully had run off in the same direction as Slade had gone. The rest had scattered to the four winds.

The blonde haired man sighed with relief, although this action caused him to wince in pain as it aggravated an old wound in his side that had opened up during this fight with Slade, Oliver cursed himself for getting too injured to join Sara's pursuit of the remaining escaped convicts. Still, Oliver knew that, although he had failed to stop Slade, at least the man hadn't gotten his army tonight. At most, Deathstroke would be able to acquire six more soldiers from tonight's events.

Diggle, who had now driven the limo down the hill and onto the street next to Oliver's position, helped his wounded employer into the back of said vehicle, ignoring the hero's insistence that he could still walk on his own. After Oliver assured Diggle that his wounds didn't require immediate attention, the Arrow told the former soldier to wait for Sara and let him rest for a few minutes. Several minutes later, Sara called her father to pick up the men she and the Arrow had successfully apprehended (the others were too far gone to track down at the moment) to take them into police custody and joined Oliver in the back of the limo (which had very dark tainted windows). Diggle drove away from the crime scene and towards the Lair, where the African-American man said he would fix up Oliver's wounds. On the way to the Verdant, before dropping Sara off near her father's apartment, the blonde haired man finally found the presence of mind to ask an obvious question, although the vigilante was pretty sure he already knew the answer. "How did the two of you know where Slade and I would be? I mean, I'm grateful that you two saved me, but I didn't even tell Felicity where I was going and I took steps to make sure she wouldn't be able to track me down!"

Sara Lance rolled her eyes. "Well, that was a pretty stupid thing to do, wasn't it, Oliver?! That and going after Slade alone! You could have been killed!"

Diggle nodded his agreement while keeping his eyes on the road. "I agree with Sara, Oliver. One of the cardinal rules of war is that you never leave your fellow soldiers behind and charge into enemy territory by yourself. You really do need to be more careful! But in answer to your question, Felicity didn't tell us where she got her info from, but she had one of her usual slips of the tongue and implied that she had an informant tell her were you and Slade would be. I don't know who that person was, but I guess their information was good."

'Isabel.' Oliver Immediately thought to himself. Evidently, the brunette woman had been even more dependable than he had dared to hope she would be, and had actually tracked Felicity down and convinced her to call in what was left of his team to come and save him from Slade and his own stupid decision to go after the one-eyed man alone. 'The woman actually saved my life. Without her intervention, I would be paralyzed right now, and Slade would have his army to destroy Starling City. I definitely owe her at least a thank you… and an apology for threatening to put an arrow in her chest.'

But then another though entered Oliver's head and filled him with anxiety. 'Wait a second. Isabel and Felicity hate each other! If Isabel is with Felicity right now at the Lair (and I really need to ask Isabel how she found the place), I'll be lucky if the two of them haven't killed each other already!' Oliver turned towards his bodyguard, personal assistant, and driver in the front seat of the limo. "Diggle, get us back to the Lair as fast as you can without getting us pulled over! I think we may have a situation on our hands when we get there!"

* * *

><p>…Back at the Lair<p>

Isabel was currently pacing from one side of the Lair to the other repeatedly. She knew that this action was driving Felicity crazy, but since the blonde's nail chewing was just as aggravating to her, the Russian born woman couldn't bring herself to care. Besides, right now, Isabel didn't feel she could help herself. She was so full of nervous energy at the present moment that she felt like she was going to explode if she stayed still. It had, after all, been several minutes since a man on Oliver's team, one John Diggle, had reported picking Oliver up to bring him back to the Lair, and there had been silence on the field team's end since then (Isabel had made Felicity give her an earpiece so she could listen in on what was going on after the co-CEO had grown tired of hearing second-hand reports of what was going on).

To make matters worse, other than saying that Oliver would live, Mr. Diggle hadn't been very forthcoming about the state of the vigilante's injuries. So right now, Isabel was worried. Because she remembered the last time she had been forced to wait this long for someone she cared about to arrive at their destination many years ago, and neither the kindly couple who had adopted her, nor her "older brother" had come back to her alive that night. And even though Diggle said that Oliver would live, Isabel was still afraid about what state the stubborn, yet good intentioned man might come back to her in. That worry, in addition to her concern that Slade might track her down and kill her for betraying him soon, maybe even tonight, was making Isabel more nervous than she had felt in a long time. It took several seconds for the brunette to figure out why she was now truly anxious for the first time in years, despite having been in several life-threating situations during that time. Then it hit her. For the first time in almost six years, she had something, or rather, someone, to lose. And Isabel honestly felt that was a simultaneously wonderful and terrifying prospect.

Finally, however, just as Isabel had almost lost her patience and decided to storm out of the Lair and see what was taking Oliver's driver so long to get him here, the door that lead from the Verdant to the basement was opened, causing Isabel to aim her large gun at the door as it was opening. Thankfully, it was a limping Oliver Queen, not John Diggle, whom Isabel had only met once, that had opened the door, and the brunette quickly lowered her gun before pointedly looking away from the man and speaking. "You know, you really should at least announce who's coming through that door before you barge in. If I found this place by following you. Somebody else, like Slade, could have done the same thing."

Oliver, taken aback somewhat by Isabel unconventional greeting, simply nodded as the brunette lowered her gun. "I'll make a note of that for next time."

When an imposing black man entered the Lair right after Oliver, Isabel started to raise her gun again before Oliver raised his hand to stop her. "Whoa! There is no need for that! This is my associate, driver, and bodyguard, John Diggle. You remember him from our trip to Russia, right? He's a friend, Miss Rochev!"

Felicity, who had been sitting quietly in the background during this whole awkward exchange of words, finally spoke while Isabel lowered her weapon again. "Getting a little trigger happy there aren't you?"

Isabel rolled her eyes, but otherwise ignored the I.T. girl's comment and responded to Oliver's words while looking pointedly at Diggle. "Sorry about that. I remember meeting you now, Mr. Diggle. But I failed to recognize you at first due to the low lighting in the doorway and the fact that I honestly didn't remember your face that well, and I was thinking Slade may have more agents than even I know about, and you could be one of them. A girl can never be too careful. My apologies for pointing a gun at your head."

John Diggle purposely ignored Isabel's apology and walked past the brunette woman, before turning backwards to face Miss Rochev. "Just out of curiosity, what would have happened if I had walked through that door first?"

Isabel couldn't stop herself from smirking. "Then I'm afraid your head would no longer be attached to your body, Mr. Diggle."

The soldier smirked right back. "Is that right? Because I think it would have been me that killed you in that scenario, Miss Rochev. I don't even know you or why you are here after all. Plus, you did sort of break in, from the looks of things in the Verdant. Shattered glass and broken locks and all."

Isabel frowned, ignoring Diggle's implied question. "In either case, it's evident that you entering first without announcing yourself would have been a bad thing. And that's why all of you need some sort of code to announce yourselves before you come in. And don't worry. I'll pay for the damages I caused to the club."

Oliver held his hand up. "Thank you. But I think we've had quite enough talk about us killing each other. We will discuss how we should go about entering the Lair from now on later." The Arrow smiled, first at his I.T. assistant, then Isabel, and finally Diggle. "But first, I would like to thank all of you, like I thanked Sara earlier before she had to go home to her family, for saving me out there. It was stupid of me to go after Slade alone…"

"Yes, it was…" "Don't beat yourself up…" Isabel and Felicity replied simultaneously to Oliver's words before glaring at each other, and the brunette added. "But I'm glad you made it back alive."

The blonde woman nodded. "What she said."

Diggle, noticing the obvious tension between the two females in the room, tried and failed to suppress a smirk as he connected some of the dots about what must have happened earlier in the evening. "Yeah. I'm also impressed you two didn't kill each other whenever you evidently showed up to the Lair to tell Felicity here about Oliver and Slade's whereabouts, Miss Rochev. I would really like to know how you came by that information by the way." When Isabel didn't reply to Diggle's words right away, the African American man chuckled. "You should have heard some of the things Felicity has said about you, Miss Rochev. She really seems to hate you. And if half the things she said you did to her are true. I can't say I blame her."

Isabel kept a stoic look on her face while pretending not to hear Diggle's words, but Felicity's reply was not quite as calm as she quickly tried to deny John's words. "I never used the word 'hate', Miss Rochev. I was just a little stressed about all the work you were giving me and some of the things you said to me, and…"

Isabel, having no patience for Felicity's rambling, simply rolled her eyes. "It's fine, Miss Smoak. We don't have to pretend to like each other to work together to beat Slade. Besides, I probably deserved whatever it is you said about me. We've been over that already." Isabel turned towards Diggle. "To answer your question, I knew were Slade was because I used to work for him until earlier this evening, and I had made the mistake of telling Oliver about that fact, and Slade's whereabouts before…"

Diggle didn't let Isabel finish before he turned to Oliver. "Are you crazy?! We can't trust someone who just confessed to working for your nemesis! I thought you were displaying bad judgment about this woman in Russia…" Diggle didn't see Isabel visibly flinch when he mentioned that night, because he was facing Oliver at the time, but both Oliver and Felicity could see that John's words had hit one of the brunette's nerves when he did so. "I mean, she is trying to take over your family's company and she almost got you killed tonight…"

Oliver didn't let Diggle finish. "No, **I** almost got **myself** killed, Diggle, because I went after Slade by myself, the one thing Miss Rochev here told me not to do! She did, however, save my life by getting Felicity here…"The blonde woman being mentioned smiled nervously. "…to call you and Sara for help! I would be dead, or worse, if not for Isabel here! Plus, Miss Rochev's information about Slade's whereabouts was good, and believe me when I say that Isabel was taking her own life into her hands just by telling me that info. Slade doesn't deal mercifully with those he perceives to be traitors. Believe me, I would know." The whole room fell into silence for several seconds in response to Oliver's words before the blonde man added. "So I would appreciate if you didn't go questioning my decision to let Miss Rochev here help us to stop Slade when we could use all the help we can get!"

Diggle sighed, but evidently decided it wasn't worth arguing about this right now. "Fine. I'll let this go for now, Oliver. But we will be talking more about this tomorrow. Right now though, I would really like to go home and get some sleep. Are you sure you won't let me check your injuries before…"

Oliver shook his head. "I'm fine. It's nothing I can't patch up myself."

Diggle sighed again. "Fine. In that case, I will go ahead and go now. I believe we still do have work, tomorrow, after all."

Oliver just nodded in reply, and Diggle went out the door again, causing Isabel to raise her right eyebrow. "Is your friend always this…friendly?"

Oliver smiled. "No, you actually caught him on a good day. Diggle doesn't trust people easily. Years of being a special ops solider will do that to you, I guess. To tell you the truth, I'm not really the trusting type myself these days. But a select few people, including Diggle and Felicity here…" This time, the tech genius just nodded seriously at the mention of her name. "…have earned my trust. And by risking your life to help me, so have you. For the time being, anyway. But there was something that I wanted to… discuss with you now." Oliver, without even realizing he was doing it, gave Isabel an intense look similar to the one he had given her that night in Russia, causing Isabel to smile and reflexively give Oliver a smoldering look of her own.

The two individuals, without realizing it, became lost in each other's eyes for several seconds before Felicity finally figured out that Oliver and Isabel were having a moment. "Oh, you meant you wanted to talk to her alone! Sorry, I will just be going now…"

Oliver Queen snapped out of his revelry, and Isabel quickly did the same. Oliver's face automatically put on a guilty look after he saw the barely concealed pain in Felicity's eyes, a fact that was not lost to Miss Rochev as the blonde man spoke in an apologetic tone. "I'm sorry, Felicity. I sort of… lost myself for a moment there. What I have to discuss with Isabel can wait until later, if you had anything you wanted to get done down here or talk with me about…"

Felicity shook her head. "It's okay, Oliver. You two obviously have a lot to… talk about. I'm just in the way right now."

The blonde woman shook her head as she began to walk out the door, but Oliver stopped her by putting his hand on her shoulder and whispering so softly that, even with Isabel's enhanced hearing, the brunette was barely able to hear. "You aren't in the way. You are never in the way. You know you matter to this team, don't you, Felicity? And that you matter to me? Maybe not in the way that you want to, but…"

Felicity shook her head once more, more emphatically this time, and spoke in a firm tone of voice that made it clear she did not want to talk about this topic anymore. "I'm fine, Oliver. I'll see you at work, tomorrow."

Oliver nodded and took his hand off Felicity's arm as his Executive Assistant and tech expert left the room. The blonde man didn't hear his executive assistant's tears fall down her face after she left the room. Nor did he hear Felicity mutter that "It still doesn't make any damn sense at all."

Isabel suppressed a sigh but wisely chose to keep her mouth shut when Oliver muttered to himself, "I'm such an idiot."

The brunette admitted to herself that it had been so much easier for her when she didn't care about anybody but herself… and Robert's memory. But falling for Oliver had apparently opened the door for other emotion's to flood into Isabel's heart. And now Isabel felt a very familiar feeling of guilt flood through her as she realized that her presence was not only screwing up the dynamics of Oliver's team, it was also giving Oliver's Executive Assistant, Felicity Smoak, grief. Surprisingly, Isabel actually found herself caring about that, and it only took a second to figure out why, and it was linked to yet another reason that the brunette didn't like Felicity much. She reminded the older woman of her younger, more naïve self, the woman who had been in love with her boss, and how weak and emotional she had been back then.

Isabel shook that thought off after Oliver turned back towards her person as soon as Felicity had exited the Verdant. "Thank you again for saving me back there, Isabel. I owe you my life…"

Isabel shook her head. "You don't owe me anything, Oliver. I had been working for your nemesis for years until recently, after all. I'll tell you what, though. If you could stop rushing into trouble without thinking things through, we'll call it even."

Oliver sighed and groaned as the action of sitting down in on the Lair's chairs aggravated one of his wounds. "That sounds like a deal. I did want to talk to you about some important things, though. For example, why it is you were working for Slade before to begin with…"

Thinking quickly, Isabel dodged the question by bringing up a more pressing concern. "Take off your shirt."

An obviously surprised Oliver stared blankly at Isabel. "Excuse me? Isabel, I will admit that I do have feelings for you, but this really isn't the time…"

Isabel rolled her eyes. "Obviously not, Oliver. But last time I checked, it was still standard procedure to take off any clothes over wounds that need to be cleaned and dressed."

Oliver blushed. "Oh. Right. Sorry. But like I was telling Diggle, I can do that myself…."

Isabel scoffed at Oliver's stubborn attitude. "I didn't know you were a contortionist, Oliver. I mean, how else would you possibly dress the wound on your right shoulder blade all by yourself?"

The blonde man raised his eyebrow. "How did you…."

Isabel smirked. "Let's just say that I've seen a lot of wounds in my time. Quite a few of them my own. You're favoring your right shoulder. Now are you going to let me help you or do you want to risk your wounds getting infected?"

Oliver sighed, and after several seconds of hesitation took his shirt while pointing Isabel towards the Lair's medical kit. When Isabel came back with the medical kit and was greeted by the sight of a half-naked Oliver Queen, the woman smiled without thinking about it. "That's better."

Isabel spent the next half hour administering to Oliver wounds. Thankfully, most of them weren't that serious. A few bruised ribs that Isabel was able to wrap up tight, a few bruises and some minor scrapes and partially reopened old wounds that the Russian woman was able to disinfect, stitch up when necessary, and put bandages on. The only somewhat serious wound on Oliver's body came from Slade's sword, which had slashed its way across Oliver's right shoulder, behind his back, and all the way down to his shoulder blade. Thankfully, Slade had only intended for the wound to inflict pain, not kill, so the incision was actually a lot shallower than Isabel had thought at first. But it still required cleaning and several stitches.

Much to Isabel's amusement, however, although Oliver predictably winced when she put alcohol on his wound, the man still seemed to be more focused on the feeling of her fingers pressed against his skin as she was dressing his wounds, as Oliver seemed to unconsciously draw himself backward a little with a slightly anxious look on his face whenever she touched him. As much as she enjoyed the effect she obviously still had on Oliver, Isabel decided that would not do, since the gray eyed man might end up messing up some of the stiches she was about to put in if he continued pulling away from her, as he had been doing for the past several minutes, so she finally decided to say something. "You need to relax, Oliver, or you might end up messing up some of the stiches. Just remember, there's nothing here I haven't seen before. Or felt for that matter."

Isabel smiled as Oliver blushed once again, muttering, "Good point." and untensed his muscles as he was told to. The brunette figured that making Oliver Queen blush twice in one day must be some kind of record. She soon found herself impressed, however, when she noted that Oliver managed not to cry out a single time as she put in all of the stiches. Even so, the man couldn't seem to help himself from complaining about the pain after his last wound (except for the bruise on one of his legs which the man had put on ice himself) was treated. "You know, no matter how many times I have to get stiches, it still hurts just as much as the last time."

Isabel nodded neutrally. "Good. It should hurt. Pain can be an excellent teacher. Maybe next time, this experience will help you to remember not to charge into a battle impulsively. Although…" The hazel eyed woman scowled at Oliver, "from the amount of wounds on your body, I'd say you are a slow learner."

Oliver laughed sardonically. "Ha ha. Your concern for my well-being is noted, Nurse Pain."

The same scowl still hadn't left Isabel's face. "That's Dr. Pain to you. And I did tend to your wounds, didn't I? Does that seem like something I would do if I didn't care about you?"

A serious expression quickly found its way onto Oliver's face. "No. I guess not. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to imply you didn't care. I just… you seem really mad at me for some reason."

Isabel rolled her eyes and wondered how someone who was street smart enough to survive being the Arrow could be so stupid in so many other aspects of his life. She also decided, right then and there, that she had to be honest about what she felt for the stupidly noble man she had just tended to if she wanted to have even the slightest chance of having a future with him. And Isabel knew that, given her particular history, a slight chance was the best she could reasonably hope for. "Why would I be mad? Just because the man I fell in love with…" Isabel looked meaningfully into Oliver's eyes to let the man know, even underneath her sarcasm, she meant what she was saying right now. "…ran off without thinking into a battle he couldn't win on his own and almost got himself killed?! Why would that make me angry!?"

Oliver nodded, then opened and closed his mouth several times while Isabel anxiously waited for a response from the man. Finally, a determined look set itself behind Oliver's eyes. "I'm sorry I upset you. I'll try not to do it again and…" Oliver gulped and softly added. "I…I think I maybe…just might love you too. I'm glad you feel the same way, because for a long time there, I thought it was all one sided and I was just imagining… anyway, I know it doesn't make any sense, and I'm not usually this forward about expressing how I feel, but think I started… feeling that way about you a long time ago. Before Russia, even and… I didn't realize that was what I felt for you until Slade almost got me tonight and I thought my life was about to, for all intents and purposes, end. I'm sorry I didn't listen to you before, and that I threatened you. I was just panicking because my sister was missing. But I'm glad you feel the same way about me as I do about you. I wanted to say that to you in case Slade kills me tomorrow or…"

Isabel put her hand gently over Oliver's mouth, causing him to stop talking, as she looked into the gray eyes in front of her with a sad expression on her face, which, given the blonde man's confused expression the brunette guessed, he found perplexing. In truth though, Isabel wasn't worried for the same reasons she guessed Oliver was thinking she was. The hazel eyed woman wasn't disappointed Oliver wasn't more forward in expressing his love for her, for she knew the man wasn't all that good at expressing his emotions sometimes. Besides, the warm, intense look in the man's eyes and the fact that he had chosen to trust her, and defended that decision to his teammates, spoke volumes more than words about the man's love for her. No, Isabel was worried about something else. She wondered how to say what she needed to say next. How could she put into as few words as possible what needed to be said, without telling Oliver the whole truth about her past, or her motivations for working with Slade, and thus risk losing him?

With a sigh, Isabel settled on, "I forgive you. I've done some… questionable things as well, so I'm not going to judge you for something you said or did when you were trying to look out for your sister. Just know that I'm not going to let anything happen to you. If I have anything to say about it, you are going to live, Oliver Queen. No matter what Slade throws at you, no matter how things may change between us, I will not let Deathstroke harm you, or, if I can help it, anybody you care about. And… I want you to remember what you just said. That sometimes, love doesn't make sense. Sometimes we find ourselves falling for people we logically shouldn't and doing crazy things for them…"

Oliver smirked. "Like risking your life by turning on your employer to save them?"

Isabel smiled. "Yes. Things like that."

The brunette was caught completely by surprise by what Oliver did next, as the man practically lunged at her and drew her into a kiss. A kiss that quickly turned into a several minute long make out session that felt so good that Isabel wasn't able to think coherently enough to pull away from it until Oliver started trying to take off her clothes. As soon as the blonde man tried to do that, however, Isabel reluctantly pulled away, as a mixture of practical thought and guilt finally overwhelmed raw instinct. She wanted to make love to Oliver again, but not now, when his wounds needed to heal and he needed to go back to his family to mend the broken relationships in his home and to keep up appearances for Slade. And not like this, before she could find a way to tell him the truth about why she had joined up with Slade in the first place. Although Isabel knew her life would still require her to lie to people at sometimes, she did not want to deceive Oliver Queen anymore if she could help it.

Despite all of these good reasons to pull away from Oliver at this time, however, the disappointed look on the man's face was almost enough to make Isabel change her mind. Almost. The hazel eyed woman sighed. "Not now, Oliver. You need to go home now. Try to fix things with your family. I know you still aren't on the best of terms with your mother…" It took everything Isabel had not to growl while mentioning Moira, but after reminding herself that the woman was Oliver's mom, whom the man loved because he was a good son, she managed. "and Thea is going to be pretty pissed at you when you get home, whatever Slade told her, but if you want to stop Slade's plan to destroy your family, you have to try to fix things with both of them. And then you need to get some rest so you can heal. I'll pick up the slack for you at QC, like usual. I'll cover you for all your morning meetings, but please try to be there by noon to prepare for our 1PM meeting with the board. However, you can go ahead and tell Diggle and Felicity they won't have to wake up at their usual time. I figure they earned some rest too for helping me to save your stubborn ass."

Oliver smiled and nodded. "I guess you're right. About all of that. So… what, I talk to my family, try to talk Diggle and Felicity down in the morning, and we pretend nothing has changed during the day at QC? Back to business as usual?"

Isabel smirked. "In case you haven't noticed, your nighttime activities require money. That means things at your father's company, which you should care about anyway, need to keep running smoothly for the Arrow to get funding. And yes, I will still be your equal partner in the company because… I hate to say this Oliver, and please don't take offense because I know you are smart, but… you just don't have the experience to run a company like Queen Consolidated on your own quite yet. So, In order to insure the best interest of the company, and yourself, I am going to help you keep running things. But as an ally, not an enemy. Besides, this means I can keep covering you when you have Arrow business to take care of."

Oliver nodded. "I guess I can live with that. I better go home now, Miss Rochev. It's already pretty late. Do you have some place safe to lay low till morning?" Isabel nodded. "Good." And without another word, Oliver changed into his business suit and walked out the door, never noticing the worried look in Isabel's eyes as she watched Oliver Queen leave. The woman wondered whether the romance that was just starting to blossom between her and Oliver would survive the man learning the truth about her past. Because the hazel-eyed woman knew that was going to happen sooner or later.

….insert scene transition here….

Slade Wilson snarled at one of his men as he made his way back into his hideout with a mere six former inmates following him instead of the army he had planned to acquire. And to make matters worse, he had also failed to acquire Oliver Queen, who had as good a fallen into his lap by showing up when he was liberating the would-be Iron Heights inmates from their confinement. But, Slade reluctantly admitted to himself, he had been careless. He had in fact, become so confident in his evidentially superior strategic position that he had toyed with his prey. He had even started monologuing! As a result, Oliver had gotten away, and the army needed to destroy Starling City had been temporarily lost. On top of everything else, Slade's ears were still ringing as an aftereffect of that Canary bitch's weapon!

But, Slade reminded himself with a grim smile, at least there was one silver lining. Oliver Queen had slipped up too. The man he once called brother had revealed the traitor within his organization. And now, the individual responsible for tonight's… unfortunate turn of events would pay for their betrayal… with their life.

When Slade entered the inner room of his sanctum, he was greeted by none other than Brother Blood. "Sir, I had some things I wished to discuss with you about our enterprise, and some concerns I have about Miss Rochev's loyalty to…"

BAM!

Slade scowled and quickly put his sidearm back into his holster as Sebastian Blood's dead body fell to the floor. "How dare you speak to me about loyalty, you spineless, traitorous scum?!" Under different circumstances, Deathstroke knew, he might have been inclined to draw Sebastian's death out and make him suffer. Maybe even let the man speak his mind about Isabel's loyalty to him before he died. But he was not in a good enough mood to go through all of that right now. Besides, although it was true that there had been times were Isabel had expressed reservations about the plan to destroy everything Oliver Queen held dear, he had always been able to bring his pupil around to his way of thinking.

It didn't concern Slade too much that, at times, that convincing had required a little help from some Mirakuru laced tea that was just watered down enough to keep Isabel from being completely overwhelmed by her anger at the Queens, and thus risk losing her usefulness as a convincing mole within Oliver's company. And even though Slade was slightly worried that he had not yet received news that Isabel had acquired Queen Consolidated completely after being made temporary CEO, Slade was sure that Isabel was just being slowed down by some unforeseen setbacks that she would soon overcome to acquire QC for him. Besides, it made much more sense that the weak, sniveling Mr. Blood would be the traitor within his organization, just as Oliver had said. After all, at this point, Slade had complete faith in Isabel, the brainwashed underling who had been his best student. The one who Slade had almost come to think of as a daughter after his own daughter had died of cancer while he was stuck on the island.

Yes, Slade thought to himself as he smiled malevolently. He still had one loyal follower. One ace in the hole in his game against Oliver Queen. And her name was Isabel Rochev.

**AN: I hope that you all enjoyed this chapter! Thanks again to all of my readers and reviewers, without whom I would not have had the inspiration to finish this massive chapter! I hope you would indulge me and let me know in reviews 1) if you think this chapter is too long and 2) what you think of my "in transition" Isabel, who is no longer a villain, but not quite a hero (or even an uncharacteristically nice person) at this point. I'm trying to make the transition in her character noticeable, but believable. Also, please let me know what you think about the developing romance arc between her and Oliver, if you would be so kind. I figure that it works out, with how impulsive Oliver is on the show, but let me know if you disagree.**

**And finally, a huge thank you goes to my beta-reader, who has the misfortune of having to go through these massive chapters and fix all the numerous things I get wrong when I write a fic. I don't even have anything clever to say right now, but your efforts are greatly appreciated!**

**-supercode**


	8. Revelations and Repercussions: Part 1

**Author's note will be at the end of the next chapter!**

Moira Queen sighed with relief when she heard the front door to her family's mansion open and saw that her son had finally come home, several hours after his sister, Thea, had been dropped off by Mr. Diggle, who claimed he had found his charge's sister while randomly looking around Starling for her while Oliver had split up to search on his own. Moira hadn't been too happy about the man letting Oliver search for his sister alone, and she knew there was more to what happened than the African-American man had told her, but the Queen matriarch had not voiced her suspicions because she had a more immediate problem to deal with after Thea arrived home.

It seemed that Slade Wilson, who had turned out to be Thea's kidnapper after all, as Officer Lance had said (and Moira had vowed to make sure her old family friend got out of whatever trouble he was in with the police department for going outside of procedure to arrest the one-eyed man) had somehow found out that Malcolm Merlyn was Thea's father. He had also known that both Moira and Oliver had knowledge of that fact, and the kidnapper had revealed this to Thea. Predictably, her daughter had not taken this news well, and although Moira was glad Thea had left that info out of the police report she had just finished giving the cops who had stopped by the Queen Mansion an hour ago, it was obvious that Thea was now furious with both her mother and brother for keeping the secret of her parentage from her, since the young woman had immediately locked herself in her room and refused to talk to her mother after giving her statement to the police.

So now, Moira was afraid she had just lost her daughter, and, up until Oliver had arrived home several seconds ago, probably from looking for his sister as the Arrow, if Moira had to make a guess, she had been terrified she would lose her son, who she had just started to reconcile with during the search for his sister, as well. Still, Moira was still upset with her son for having left her alone at a time like this, and she knew she needed to have a little talk with Oliver about where he had been, as well as a more…awkward subject, tonight.

With that in mind, Moira quickly hurried back to the living room before Oliver saw her, planted herself in a chair and called out to her son. Moira liked to think that her ability to create the right atmosphere for any situation, which some considered a "flair for the dramatic" was an asset. "Oliver, could you come in here and talk to me, please?"

Oliver Queen walked into the living room with a visible limp, which Moira noted with concern, but decided not to point out yet, and turned towards his mother. "Mom? I just came back to the mansion as soon as I could after I heard that Thea came home, so that I could check on my sister. What are you still doing up? It's…."

"3:23 in the morning." Moira noted with a slight smirk after looking at her gold watch. "Yes, I'm well aware of the lateness, or rather, earliness, of the hour, Oliver. I'm still up because I was waiting to hear from my son after my daughter finally found her way safely home. It seems that Officer Lance was right after all, it was Slade Wilson who kidnapped Thea. I think the SCPD owes Laurel's father an apology, don't you?"

Oliver just nodded, and Moira could see he was trying to figure out how to respond before her son finally settled on "I guess so. I've had a bad feeling about Mr. Wilson since you first introduced me to him. I suppose that is the reason I was so rude to the man before. I can't say I regret that now." The blonde haired man turned towards the front of the house and the staircase that lead to the second level of the mansion. "Is Thea still up in her room? I wanted to talk to her."

Moira shook her head. "Thea is sleeping. She's had a very trying ordeal and I think we should wait to talk to her in the morning. Besides, she isn't too happy with either of us right now, Oliver. It seems that Mr. Wilson somehow knew that Malcolm was Thea's father, and the man revealed that fact, as well as our knowledge of your sister's parentage, to your sister." Moira Queen sighed, as the woman thought that she had not yet come up with a way to cool her daughter's anger at her son and herself for keeping that particular secret. But she also paid particular attention to Oliver's reaction to the news she had just given her son.

"Well, that's…obviously not good. We will definitely need to sort things out with Thea in the morning, then. How did Slade know any of those things? I hope the cops can find him soon so that we can find out how he knows so much about us. The man's already hurt this family enough! He needs to be stopped!"

Moira raised her eyebrow. She knew her son well enough to see that his anger over what Slade had done to his sister, and his concern for Thea's well-being, were genuine, but that he was just faking being surprised about what Slade had told Thea. Somehow, and Moira had a gut feeling it had something to do with her son being the Arrow, Oliver had already known what Slade Wilson had told his sister. But, Moira mentally smirked to herself, Oliver couldn't fool her. Although it was true that Oliver had become much better at lying since he had come back from the island, a fact which had caused Thea to huff in annoyance once that her brother had become "a Jedi Knight at B.S.", he was nowhere near as proficient at deception as his mother was, a fact which Moira knew she probably shouldn't be as perversely proud of as she was.

In any case, the woman had told more than enough lies to know that her son was doing the same thing to her now. However, the blonde woman decided to ignore her son's deception on that front for now, and ask Oliver about where he had been. "I agree. But don't worry Oliver, I'm sure Starling City's finest will catch him soon. What I want to know is where you have been for the past several hours, and why you couldn't answer your cell at a time like this?"

Moira forced herself not to chuckle as her son's eyes widened slightly while the man made what his mother knew was a lame excuse to cover up his activities as the Arrow, whose "secret identity" she had discovered several weeks ago after stumbling upon the vigilante's secret room at QC, a building she knew like the back of her hand. "Sorry. I got mugged while I was trying to look for Thea. Or, I should say someone tried to mug me right after I received Diggle's message that Thea was home. I fought back and…I guess I got knocked out during the struggle, because I woke up a couple hours later. I suppose the mugger still got scared off by the fact that I fought back, though, because he didn't take anything. Unfortunately, my phone did get broken while I was fighting the guy, so I couldn't call you. And then it took me forever to flag down a cab, and…It's just been a really long night. I should probably get back to my place to get some sleep before work tomorrow."

Moira grimaced as she thought about one of the people that her son would inevitably encounter tomorrow at his workplace, but she held off on voicing that thought for the time being. Pretending to believe her son's obvious lie, although her concern for her son's well-being, considering he was the Arrow, was quite genuine, Moira frowned. "That sounds terrible, Oliver! It sounds like you have been though an ordeal of your own this evening. I'm just glad you are okay, but if anyone ever tries to mug you again, please…just give the man what he wants! A suit jacket, gold watch, and a wallet full of cash are not worth your life! Anyway, I insist you stay here for the evening. I think you, Thea, and I have all been though a lot today and we all need to get some rest, and talk about what happened tonight in the morning. The three of us have a lot to discuss. Besides, I figured since you and I were starting to get along again…"

Oliver nodded and smiled while he interrupted his mother. "Thank you. That sounds like a good idea. I think we all need to get some rest, and it probably would be best if you and I talked to Thea about what happened tomorrow. And I guess I could stay here, at least for the night. I better get to sleep now, actually. Good night."

Oliver Queen turned to walk towards the staircase back to his old room, before Moira sighed and stopped him by beginning a conversation that she really didn't want to have with her son. A conversation that the mother knew was nevertheless, long overdue. "I heard about what happened in the board room earlier this evening. You made Isabel Rochev temporary CEO of Queen Consolidated so she could cover the board meeting to elect new members without you. That was an interesting choice."

Oliver sighed and turned around towards his mother with a feigned look of distress on his face, but Moira could see that a beginning of a smile was starting to form on the sides of her son's lips, causing her to worry about just what that half smile meant as he spoke. "Yes. I know that was stupid, and that you told me not to trust her. But it turned out okay in the end, and I had my reasons. Let me explain…"

Moira calmly held up her right hand. "That's not necessary, Oliver. You were concerned for Thea's safety, and it was only natural that you were more worried about finding her than you were about the board at the time, so it makes since that you wanted to get out of the meeting to find her. Still, you could have chosen someone else to take your place at the board meeting. Like Walter."

The blonde man opened his mouth to protest his mom's words. "Yes, that probably would have been a better idea, but I…"

"Wasn't thinking straight because you were so worried about Thea? I understand, I was pretty upset when we didn't know where my daughter was as well. To be honest, I'm still a little shaken from everything that has happened. And I guess you are too." Oliver just nodded in response to that statement, so his mother continued speaking. "Even so, it was a risky move on your part. Isabel could easily have used that opportunity to try to take over Queen Consolidated, like she was trying to just months ago…" Oliver's face suddenly became like stone after that statement, and Moira was surprised to find that even she couldn't read the expression of the boy…no, man she had raised for most of his life.

That fact reminded the mother that, ever since Oliver had been stranded for five years alone on an island, there had been a part of her son that he had managed to keep hidden even from her. Shaking that thought off, the Queen matriarch continued speaking. "But she didn't. In fact, some of my contacts within the company tell me that Isabel even gave a quite stirring speech at the end of that board meeting, encouraging the board of directors to support you and our family. I heard it was almost touching. Isn't that interesting?"

Oliver nodded, stoic look still on his face. "Yes, I heard about that. I was surprised as you are that she did that. I guess she must have a conscience after all. She probably just didn't want to kick us when we were already down. Thea had just been kidnapped after all."

Moira shrugged. She didn't buy that, and judging by the look in her son's eyes, he didn't either. Or at least, he didn't believe that was the whole reason Isabel had chosen to support him. "That's possible, I guess. But I rather doubt it. Whatever…conscience Miss Rochev may have didn't keep her from taking over and breaking apart a dozen other companies, causing thousands of employees their jobs, to make money, after all. Actually, I have another theory about why Isabel decided not to stab you in the back…"Moira let her words hang meaningfully in the air for emphasis while Oliver, whose stoic face now did nothing to disguise the interest his widened eyes revealed in what Moira was going to say next, waited for his mom to continue speaking, "I think that Miss Rochev forgot one of the cardinal rules of being a businesswoman...again. Never mix business with pleasure. I believe that Isabel is smitten with you."

Oliver averted his eyes for half a second, before looking back at his mother. That simple action spoke volumes to Moira Queen, who was starting to suspect that this conversation might go in an even more awkward direction than she had anticipated as the Queen matriarch though to herself: 'He knows. I'm right about that brunette tart having feelings for my son, and what's more, Oliver already knows that she likes him. But how does he know that, and do I really want to know the answer to that question?'

The mother's worried thoughts were interrupted by the sound of her son's voice as the man tried to suppress a smile and only halfway succeeded as the corners of his lips turned ever so slightly upward, making Moira worry about what Oliver's half-smiles meant all over again. "That's an interesting theory. What makes you think that Isabel has feelings for me?"

Moira shrugged, pretending to be a lot calmer then she felt. "Oh, just little things here and there. The ways she looks at you at the office, the fact that she actually smiles in your presence on occasion, and of course, the fact that she potentially just threw away a multi-billion dollar investment that she made on behalf of her employer, Stellmoor International, to try to take over Queen Consolidated, by asking the board to support you."

Moira's son raised his eyebrow and tried to interrupt. "It seems to me that we really shouldn't be complaining about…"

But Oliver's mother wouldn't let her son finish speaking. "And of course, there is the way you have been looking at Isabel lately as well. The way you smile back at her. I've known you your whole life Oliver, and I know how you act around women you're interested in. The same way you have acted around girls you've liked since you had your first girlfriend when you were 12 years old. So, I know that you have feelings for Isabel as well." The tone in Moira's voice left no room for disagreement. No doubt that the Queen matriarch already knew that the words she had just spoken about her son were true. "And, as a concerned parent, I am just wondering if you and Miss Rochev have become…close lately"

Oliver nodded his head in apparent resignation and sighed, although an angry look was now on his face. "You're right. I do like her. But I also know that you don't, which is understandable, considering that she tried to take over QC when I first meet her, but she's different now and… Look, I would rather not talk about any of this with you. No offense, but you never tried to interfere with, or even really ask about, my love life before now, even when I was making really bad choices like cheating on Laurel repeatedly, which we both know you knew about at the time. If you had to pick a time to get involved, that would have been a really great time to try to set me straight, not now. So, why are you trying to interfere now, mom? Because I think Miss Rochev has proven tonight that she's not a threat to Queen Consolidated anymore. And if that's because she's developed feelings for me, I would think you would want to encourage that. Otherwise, it's really none of your business whether or not Miss Rochev and I become… involved with each other!"

Moira sighed and frowned at the same time. 'It's worse than I imagined. By how defensive he is getting right now, I think he may have it bad for Isabel. I can only hope I'm wrong. Either way, my son needs to know the truth. And it's past time that I told him.' With a shaky breathe, Moira managed to speak in a voice that was just loud enough for Oliver to hear, and to stop the young man in his tracks before he could leave the room. "I wish that were true, Oliver. If the situation were as simple as you just said it was, I wouldn't try to stand in your way, or interfere in your love life, and I would indeed, be happy that Isabel doesn't appear to be trying to take over our family's company at the moment. But there is something you don't know about Miss Rochev, Oliver. Something I've been keeping from you far too long. Something you deserve to know, especially if you were thinking of entering into a relationship with that…woman."

Moira, who had just managed to suppress lapsing into an icy, venomous tone when speaking about Isabel, didn't really want to think about the possibility that a relationship between that woman and her son had already started. After she saw that she had Oliver's attention and that her son had turned back around to face her, Moira reluctantly continued speaking. "Years ago, Isabel Rochev was an employee for Queen Consolidated. An intern, actually. Your father's intern. And she and your father… Well, you already know that your father was far from perfect and…she and your father had an affair."

* * *

><p>Oliver Queen, who had already walked back into the living room, felt his legs begin to feel weak and his head start to feel heavy on his shoulders after hearing his mother's words. The man plopped onto a nearby sofa while his eyes widened for a second, heedless of his mother's worried glances. Then he suddenly remembered that he was being watched by Slade right now, and that it wouldn't be a good idea to let his nemesis know just how much the news that Isabel had once had an affair with his father was effecting him. So, with great effort, even as he was trying to process what his mother just told him, Oliver put another stoic look on his face and make an inquiry to Moira that he thought he already knew the answer to in a flat tone of voice, even while, internally, Oliver was a mess right now, as he thought, 'I think I'm going to throw up.' "Is that so? This isn't some kind of joke or ploy to get me away from Isabel because you don't like her, is it?"<p>

Moira shook her head and scowled. "No. When have you ever known me to joke about your father's affairs?"

Oliver nodded again, his blank face not giving away the fact that he was too in shock to emotionally process what Isabel and his father had been up to together years ago. However, for those who knew him, the look in Oliver's gray orbs made his emotional panic quite transparent as the man coughed and asked. "So what exactly happened between Isabel and my father? Was this another one of his one night stands or was their affair something more serious?" The blonde man mentally slapped himself for asking that question. 'What is wrong with you, Oliver? Are you such a masochist that you actually want to hurt yourself more by asking that question?' But Oliver knew, deep down, that some part of him needed to know the answer to this question, even if he knew he wouldn't like it. For some reason, he felt compelled to find out just how much Isabel had been keeping from him.

Moira's eyes widened, and Oliver could tell that his mother was as surprised he had asked that question as he was, but the woman finally replied. "I'm not sure why you would want to know that, Oliver. But… I suppose if you want to know Isabel's true motivations for trying to take over your father's company, you will need to understand what happened between them anyway. For your information, the affair was very serious. Actually…" Moira shook her head as if trying to shake away several bad memories. "Robert almost left me for Isabel about six years ago. And then, Thea had that horse-riding incident and hurt her leg… I trust you remember that?" Oliver nodded to his mom's rhetorical question and Moira kept talking. "Well, your father came home when that happened to make sure your sister would be okay, and that trip got delayed. And then he learned about Malcolm's Undertaking and delayed running away with Isabel again until he could stop that plan, and well…" Moira looked down to the floor sadly. "We both know how that ended."

Oliver nodded again with the same blank expression on his face. "Yes, I remember what happened quite vividly. My father died. He died trying to protect Starling City and the Glades." 'And me.' Oliver mentally added as he kept talking. "But from what you just said, after he did that, he was going to leave all of us for Isabel?"

Moira, now sporting an even more worried expression than before looked at her son, and his blank face, intently, and Oliver tried to ignore her stare and hide just how much emotional turmoil his mother's words were causing him right now as she answered his query with a shake of her head. "No, Oliver. Just me. He was going to divorce me, but he was still going to try to be a father to you and Thea. Your father was a …imperfect man, but I don't want you to remember him being worse than he actually was. And you should know that he loved both you and your sister very much, even after he found out Malcolm was Thea's father."

Oliver continued nodding. He knew that, under other circumstances, he would have wanted to ask more questions about how his father had known about Thea's parentage, but he found he couldn't fully process that information now. He was still reeling from the news that the woman whom he just had realized he had fallen in love with several hours ago, the woman who had in turn proclaimed her love for him just over one hour ago, had had a serious affair with his father several years ago that had nearly resulted in his parents' marriage coming to an end…before Malcolm Merlyn and his Undertaking had done that job instead by getting Robert Queen killed. It was just too much for the blonde man to process at the moment. So he said nothing.

Noticing that her son didn't seem to be in a mood to say anything, Moira Queen resumed speaking with a frown on her face that Oliver knew meant his mother was worried about him. "Anyway, after your father died, Isabel blamed us: you, me, and Thea, for his death. And I think that is the reason she was trying to take over the company. For some reason, she had this delusional belief that the three of us were responsible for Robert's death. That he had chosen us over her, and gotten killed on the Queen's Gambit as a result. I recently disembued her of that notion by telling her the truth: that Robert had still planned to leave me for her after he had stopped the Undertaking, and that only Malcolm Merlyn was responsible for his death. I suppose that I took some of the wind out of the sails of her plan to take over Queen Consolidated that night."

Oliver replied to his mother's words in a flat, emotionless tone that revealed nothing of his inner turmoil while his stoic face continued to hide his emotions. "The night of your party. That was what you and her where talking about that got Isabel so upset. You told her my father would have left you for her…if he had lived." A lot of things about Isabel's motivations were starting to make sense to Oliver now, in a twisted kind of way. Isabel had joined up with Slade to "avenge" Robert's death by destroying his family, whom she had believed to be partly responsible for his father's death. But when Moira had convinced the brunette that was not the case, and Isabel had started to fall for him, she had regretted her decision to work with Slade and had decided to help him and his team instead.

Of course, all of this knowledge of Isabel's duplicity made him wonder if the woman hadn't lied about being in love with him too, but Oliver couldn't quite see what advantage she would have gained from doing so. After all, after deciding to turn against Slade, the brunette could simply have told him about her affair with Robert and her recent exchange of words with Moira instead of telling him she loved him. This line of thinking lead Oliver to an inescapable, albeit painful, conclusion. Isabel's feelings for him were real, or at least, the hazel eyed woman thought they were, and she had purposely kept her affair with his father a secret from him so that he would be willing to reciprocate her feelings for his own person. In other words, Isabel had lied to him, a lie of omission, in order to get what she wanted from him.

Oliver's line of thinking was temporarily interrupted by his mother's words. "Yes. I will admit I was surprised that the woman could still cry. I thought that she had completely shut out all emotion and become a completely heartless ice queen by then, that she was only capable of feeling anger now. Obviously, I was wrong. And now I think, based upon her actions lately, and tonight in that board room, that she has fallen for you as well. But I trust, based upon the information that I just gave you about her past, and her sordid history with this family, that you will be rejecting any advances Miss Rochev may make on your person…at least from now on?"

Oliver replied in a firm voice. "Of course. I will make sure to rebuff any of Isabel's future advances, then." Oliver tried his best not to reveal the maelstrom of emotional confusion he was experiencing. Right now, Oliver Queen felt anger towards Isabel, but not for the reasons he felt he should be angry. He didn't feel anger, per say, (or at least, not as much as he guessed he should have) toward Isabel for having had an affair with his father. Oliver knew he should have felt mad about that, at least on his mother's behalf, since the affair had obviously hurt the Queen matriarch.

But when the man remembered all of the bad decisions he had made during his own sexual exploits before the island; cheating on Laurel, sometimes with her own sister, sleeping with many women who were technically in relationships with other people, and even a couple of married women, and all of the broken hearts and relationships he had left behind as a result of his numerous so-called conquests, Oliver couldn't bring himself to be as upset as he thought a good son should be about Isabel's affair. The blonde man just though it would be hypocritical of him to be mad at her about that when he made so many similar bad decisions in his own past. Besides, the vigilante rationalized to himself, none of Isabel's past sins had, directly, hurt him, or, for the most part, Thea. He was however, angry that Isabel had kept what had happened between her and his father from him.

However, Oliver Queen also felt confusion. Confusion about whether or not Isabel's confessions of love for his own person had even been genuine, whether she had been lying to him (which Oliver honestly doubted), or more disturbingly, whether the hazel-eyed woman had been lying to herself about loving him. Oliver wondered if all she really liked about him were whatever characteristics that she saw in him that reminded her of his father. Oliver really tried not to dwell on that line of thinking too long due to its disturbing implications.

But most of all, Oliver Queen felt guilt right now. He felt guilty because he felt he had desecrated his father's memory in his recent dealings with Isabel, a woman his father had been romantically involved with. He felt guilty for having told that same woman that he loved her, and even guiltier that it had been the truth. And most of all he felt guilty that, even at this very moment, despite his own anger at Isabel for lying to him, despite his mother's more than understandable dislike for the brunette, and despite what had happened between the hazel-eyed woman and his own father in the past, his own romantic feelings for Isabel wouldn't just go away because he knew he shouldn't be feeling them.

So right now, Oliver Queen hated himself even more than he usually did, because he still couldn't forget the number of times he had looked in Isabel's eyes and seen…something that he hadn't seen in any other person before. He couldn't forget Russia, or that he and Isabel had a shared loneliness, a shared pain, that Oliver wasn't sure anybody else would ever be able to understand. Most of all, Oliver knew he would never be able to forget that Isabel had already saved his life once and had risked, was still risking, her life to save him and his family and friends from Slade right now, at least partially as a result of her feelings for his person. Right or wrong, Oliver knew, Isabel's feelings for him had helped her choose to fight on the right side, and given him and his allies an edge against Slade Wilson. So Oliver knew he couldn't ever completely regret that Isabel Rochev, a woman that his mother had every reason to hate, had apparently developed feelings for him.

But for one brief moment, Oliver's anger overrode his guilt. Anger that, at this particular moment, was directed at his own mother. Oliver Queen's felt anger towards Moira, not for telling him the truth about Isabel and his father's affair, but for telling him too late. For telling him after he had already developed feelings for the brunette. Yes, Oliver acknowledged to himself, his mother had warned him not to trust Isabel, but she had never explicitly told him why. Instead, Moira had chosen to keep secrets from her family and not say anything about Isabel's sordid past until it was too late.

At the moment, Oliver wanted his mother to know just what she had done to him, just how much she had hurt him, by keeping secrets again. But he knew he had to do that in such a way that Slade Wilson, the Queen mansion's own personal eye in the sky (Oliver could spot six hidden cameras in this room alone now that he was looking for them) wouldn't know how much Isabel had come to mean to him or, worse yet, how much he had apparently come to mean to the Russian woman. So Oliver chose a more subtle tactic and said. "Thank you for telling me what happened between Isabel and my father. You were right, I did have a right to know about that and you were right to tell me so that I would know to reject Isabel's advances from now on…but I wish you had told me that about Isabel before I…" Oliver purposely left the sentence hang in the air and looked directly at his mom.

He knew that Slade, who most likely knew about his tryst with Isabel in Russia, would think that sentence ended "before I slept with her." But what Oliver was trying to communicate with his eyes to his mother, and from Moira's widening eyes, he guessed the Queen matriarch had received his non-verbal message, was, "before I fell in love with her." The blonde man then walked into a corner of the room where he guessed, based upon the placement of the cameras he could see, Slade would not be able to see his face, and looked right at his mother with a fake smile that he knew his cunning mother would never think was genuine in a million years. A smile that, he knew for certain, would tell his mother that he was lying, although he kept his tone of voice neutral and even. "I guess it's a good thing that Isabel really didn't mean all that much to me, then. Just one casual fling that I'll have to let go of. I'm sure I won't miss her much."

And so, for the third time that evening, Oliver tried to walk out of the room, and for the third and final time, his mother's voice stopped him. "You hate me again now, don't you, Oliver? You hate me for telling you what I just did about Isabel and your father. For poisoning your memory of him further and for..;"

Oliver sighed and turned around taking pity on his mother and interrupted her words with his own. For he knew his mother didn't think that was a question. She really thought that she had lost Thea forever earlier this evening because she had learned the truth about her parentage, and that she had just lost him, her son, again for telling the truth about what had happened between his father and Isabel. And Oliver knew that losing him and Thea was his mother's worst fear. He didn't know whether that fear had started before or after the wreck of the Queen's Gambit, but he knew it had been there for at least the past six years, and that maladaptive fear had twisted his mom's relationships with his sister and himself as she weaved a web of secrets and lies around herself and her family in an attempt to maintain the status quo of the Queen family and keep her relationships with her children.

Ironically, that strategy of lying and keeping secrets from her children in order to maintain good relationships with them had backfired at every turn, and had threatened to alienate Moira from him and Thea on multiple occasions. The saddest part of all of that, in Oliver's opinion, and something that he had just realized recently, was that his mother really did love him and Thea. But Moira seemed to have a hard time seeing how maladaptive her strategies for dealing with her children were, and how much her secrets and lies kept hurting everyone in the Queen family.

So Oliver decided to help his mother begin rectifying that now with a few words of truth as he sighed. "No, mom. I don't hate you. Yes, in these past couple of years, you have done a lot of things, such as the actions you carried out to aid in the Undertaking, and told a lot of lies, that have made me really mad at you, even to the point that recently, I didn't even want to talk to you for a while. But none of those things have ever been able to make me hate you. And you telling me the truth about Isabel didn't make me hate you, either. I'm just disappointed and upset you didn't tell me the truth about her sooner." Moira Queen nodded toward Oliver, indicating her understanding of her son's words before he continued speaking. The blonde man's face took on a very serious expression. "And to be honest, I don't think there is anything you could do that could make me hate you. Because you're my mom and I…"

Oliver took a deep breath and went ahead and told his mother something he hadn't in a long time, something he knew the cunning but insecure woman really needed to hear right now, something that, ironically, Isabel's remarks that he needed to save his family now had inspired him to say. And Oliver Queen didn't give a damn right now if Slade was listening. "I love you and I love Thea, because we are all family… we are all each other have left, and we cannot let recent events, or Slade Wilson, change that. But that means we need to be honest with each other from now on. And I think tomorrow's talk between the three of us will be a good place to start doing that. A good time for all of us to get our secrets out in the open. Do you think you can do that?"

Moira Queen nodded. "I don't know. I have been keeping secrets so long, it's almost like second nature now. I don't even know if I remember them all. But I will try."

Oliver frowned, but nodded at his mom. "I suppose that's the best I can expect from you right now. But we will all need to learn to be more honest with each other if we want to save this family, or Slade will use our secrets against us. I see that now. I need to get some sleep so that I can try to process all of this. You should do the same."

And with that Oliver walked away from the room and towards the stairs to his old room, and he didn't stop this time when his mother interjected one final thought into the conversation, although he did turn his head back and acknowledged Moira's words with a friendly nod as she nodded in appreciation at her son's words. "Oliver? Thank you." Sadly, the man didn't hear his mother whisper after he left the room. "And I love you, too."

* * *

><p>The next 24 hours or so passed by in whirlwind for Oliver Queen, who had to do so many important things during that time period that most of that time all seemed to go by in a blur, and he was later only able to remember a few important details for most of the events that happened that day. Predictably, Oliver didn't sleep at all the night after Thea's kidnapping, as he had far too much on his mind. He was worried about what Slade was up to, and where Roy was, of course. But he also had more personal concerns: about whether Thea would forgive him and his mother for keeping the secret of her parentage from her, how much he needed to reveal to his mother and sister about his double life to keep them safe, and to try to put what was left of his family back together, and what, exactly, he was going to do about Isabel.<p>

By 8 AM that morning, Oliver finally gave up trying to sleep and got ready for work, and when his mother and sister had woken up, he had lured Thea out of her room with the promise of finally being honest and telling her "everything." Then, at Oliver's urging, the three of them took a walk through the courtyard with his relatives (after making sure it wasn't bugged), and the blonde man, more or less, kept his word, after he and Moira apologized to Thea for keeping the secret of her origins from her.

Remembering Isabel's warning that Slade would use all of his secrets against him, and telling himself that keeping secrets from his family seemed to be doing them more harm than good lately anyway, Oliver started by telling both of them that he was the Arrow. He ignored Thea's gasp at that revelation and plowed on with his story. Oliver mentally noted that his mother just nodded her head in response to this revelation and told him that she had known about that for a while now and that she had found his costume in his secret room in QC. The blonde man then told Moira and Thea about the List his father had given him before he died, his limited knowledge of the Undertaking he had tried to stop as the Hood, and how the death of Tommy Merlyn had inspired him to try to become a hero instead of a vigilante. He further explained that that last part happened after he got over "failing" Starling City by not stopping the Undertaking during a brief self-imposed exile back to the Island. He then told Thea, while she and her mother were still at a loss for words due to all the revelations he was dumping on them now, about Slade, and without going into detail, said that the man was a very powerful, dangerous psychopath (he escued telling them about the Mirakuru, knowing that would take too long to explain) who he had met on the Island. He also told them the one-eyed man, who had also bugged the Queen mansion, a fact Oliver planned to use to his advantage later, was out to destroy him and his family because he had failed to save someone Slade cared about and had risked his own life to save someone else instead. Thea had responded to that revelation with a roll of her eyes, stating, "I knew he was a psychopath."

Oliver then sighed and calmly told his family that three of them needed to stick together if they wanted to stop Slade. He also told them that Diggle, Felicity and Sara were "in on" his secret and added that Roy Harper, Thea's ex, was also a member of his team. That revelation made Thea mad enough, as she cursed out her older brother for keeping that info from her while Moira just nodded with a wide eyed look of surprise on her face. But that was nothing to how Thea reacted when Oliver apologized and told his sister that he had made Roy break up with her to protect her, and that her ex was starting to become mentally unstable. Thea just about blew a gasket when her brother added that Roy had gone missing lately and wouldn't return any of the team's calls. At that point, Thea punched her brother in the arm, and, after confirming that she would do whatever she could and stick around at least long enough to help Oliver stop Slade (a sentiment Moira quickly agreed with), added that she was very angry with her brother right now, called him an asshole for not telling her about any of this before, and ran back towards her car, away from the mansion, while trying to call Roy on her cell. Oliver just hoped his sister succeeded in getting her ex back home, because he knew that his team would be needing the Mirakuru infected young man to come back soon

After Thea left, the Queen's family moment had obviously ended, and Moira quickly left too, after implying Oliver had told her and Thea more than enough to process for one day, and that she felt she had nothing worth adding to Oliver's revelations at the present moment. Moira did promise she would tell her son a couple more secrets that she had been keeping from him at some time soon. But Oliver now doubted that his mom would ever fully come clean with him and Thea. All he knew was that his mother was still keeping things from him. In between that state of affairs, and the fact that Thea had, if anything, become more pissed at her mother and brother then before, after Oliver's revelations to his family (which in hindsight, had probably been too much to lay onto his family at once), "the family meeting" was a disaster.

As much as Oliver hated to leave things with his family in such a dysfunctional state, however, he knew there was still one thing he had to do before going to work. So Oliver called up Felicity for the second time that morning (the first had been earlier, to tell her and Diggle that they could come into work late) and told her that he had a project he wanted her to get on right away. He also added that the I.T. girl needed to keep her findings from that project between the two of them.

When Oliver met up with Felicity and gave her what she needed to start on his project, he also tried to ask if she was okay after last night, and the tech genius, like usual, covered up her feelings. The woman gave her best fake smile and said, "Of course. Everything is fine. Why wouldn't it be?" So, Oliver, not knowing what else to say to his assistant who was obviously putting on a brave face, let it go. And then, shortly after the blonde man had given Felicity what she needed to start working on his secret project, it was time for him, Diggle, and Felicity to go to work. And work was weird that day.

Work was weird that day for both Oliver and Felicity for one reason, and that reason's name was Isabel Rochev. Things started out well enough when Oliver and Felicity finally departed the elevator and walked onto the executive office level of Queen Consolidated HQ at the crack of noon and prepared for Oliver's 1PM meeting. The blonde man was pleasantly surprised to find that was his only remaining meeting of the day after the three meetings Isabel had covered for him this morning. But when Oliver arrived for the meeting, only Isabel was in the boardroom. Isabel reminded her co-CEO with a grin that she routinely pushed all the company meetings on his schedule ahead 30 minutes to make sure he showed up on time, and, after praising him for actually showing up, asked Oliver with a provocative look if he wouldn't mind helping her "find some way to make good use of" the extra half hour in their schedule someplace private, like her office.

And when that happened, when Isabel looked at him in that special way that no other woman had ever looked at him, that look that spoke not only of desire and need, but also warmth, understanding, and just a hint of the sadness and loneliness in her soul that it seemed the hazel-eyed woman was almost begging him to help relieve her of, it took everything that Oliver had to turn her down. That was something that Mr. Queen had not counted on. That even knowing what he knew now about Isabel's past in relation to his family, and that she had kept that part of her past hidden from him, which was something he was still angry about, she could still make him respond to her just by looking at him. Oliver found that truth, and the fact that he still had feelings for the hazel-eyed woman, a woman he **really** shouldn't have feelings for, deeply disturbing, and it did not help in the slightest that the brunette's gaze had indicated that her feelings for him were also, indeed, real. If anything, that made it harder for Oliver Queen to brush off Isabel's advances.

But, after reminding himself what Isabel had done six years ago, and how that had obviously hurt his mother, Oliver managed, and he pretended to have something "really important" that he needed to work on with his laptop. The male co-CEO then proceeded to get that tech device out and pretended to work on it while ignoring Isabel's incredulous expression and exclamation of "Okaaaaay then. I'll let you work on that."

Finally, after some of the longest 30 minutes of the blonde man's life, during which Isabel sat on the other end of the board room table, working on something on her own laptop, and periodically looked right at Oliver with gazes that oscillated between a concerned "What is wrong?" expression and a pissed off one that all but said, "Do you take me for an idiot!?", the other board members finally arrived, and the meeting got underway. The good thing about the meeting was that, since Oliver was actively trying to pay attention to anything other than Isabel at the moment, he actually ended up paying attention to what the other board members were saying instead of ignoring them while thinking of Arrow business, as he usually did. As a result, he actually learned a little bit about how his family's company worked. Unfortunately, he didn't understand everything the more experienced business people around him were talking about, which only intensified his own fear that he had possessed since circumstances had made him a CEO, that he wasn't cut out for this job. T

Thankfully, Isabel would always "translate" the board's business jargon for him whenever Oliver's facial expressions indicated he was confused about something, but that also meant the blonde man actually had to look at Isabel when she was speaking to him. And during the entirety of that board meeting, Isabel's eyes held nothing for him but concern, as her hazel eyes seemed to be continuously asking Oliver "What's wrong? What did I do that you won't even look at me?" even while her face remained a stoic mask. And that actually made Oliver feel guilty for not telling her why he was mad at her before, even though he knew that was a discussion that would take longer than 30 minutes, and would have to wait till the end of the day.

After the board meeting was over, Oliver took off for his office like a bat out of hell, which he knew probably seemed rude, but he didn't care. The blonde man only knew that, due to the emotional confusion her presence was causing him, he did not want to be in the room with Isabel for one more second than was necessary. Thankfully, Isabel seemed to take the hint and left Oliver alone in his office, for the most part. But she sent messages to him via e-mail and text three times that day to meet up with her, which he replied to, but kept coming up with excuses for why he could not meet with her today.

Thankfully, during that same period of time, while Oliver was working in his office, he did receive one significant distraction from his thoughts about Isabel when he got an e-mail from his mother. It turned out that Sebastian Blood, the mayoral candidate that Moira had been running against, had been found dead in his place of residence earlier this morning. Although a cause of death had not yet been released, there were already rumors of foul play. Moira stated that she was sorry that had happened to the man, and would make a public proclamation sometime soon decrying the violent behavior of whoever had killed Sebastian, but she also pointed out, in her usual blunt fashion, that this probably meant she would have the election in the bag. Oliver had mixed feelings about what had happened to Mr. Blood. On the one hand, if what Isabel said about Mr. Blood was true, and the male executive had every reason to believe it was, Sebastian had had what happened to him coming. However, Oliver still couldn't help but feel guilty, for he knew that the man was dead because of his words, because he had successfully manipulated Slade into killing "Brother Blood." And even though Oliver was able to rationalize he had done so to save an ally, and that Blood deserved what happened to him, it still sickened Oliver that he had, indirectly, killed someone again, especially since his mother stood to benefit from Mr. Blood's death. This guilt persisted even after he acknowledged to himself that such a thought had been far from the Arrow's mind when he had lied to Slade last night about the traitor in his organization.

However, even this distraction wasn't able to keep Oliver from thinking about Isabel for long. And it did not help that later in the day, around 3, when Isabel was walking to another section of the office floor on a route that, coincidentally, passed by his office, Isabel looked right at Oliver through the stained glass window in his office with those mesmerizing hazel eyes of hers. For that one short moment, Oliver could see the pain that Isabel hid from the world behind her eyes again, and alongside that pain and loneliness, a single, accusatory question: "Why?!" Seconds later, that look was gone, and the Russian-born's face hardened into her "ice queen" facade all over again as she kept walking to wherever she was going. In that moment, for some reason, Oliver felt like he was an asshole for rebuffing Isabel, even though he knew he had very good reasons to do so, and that he needed to wait until he could talk to Isabel about what he had learned about her someplace he knew was safe and private, which he knew he would only be able to do after work was done. Nevertheless, even while he was trying to avoid her, Oliver Queen thought about Isabel Rochev, and his nonsensical feelings for the woman that wouldn't go away, most of the day. Needless to say, he wasn't able to get much work done.

At around 3:30 in the afternoon, Felicity came into Oliver's office and revealed she had been having a similar problem, but for different reasons. Whereas Oliver wasn't getting work done because he couldn't focus on the massive pile of paperwork in front of him, Felicity couldn't get any work done because she, for once, didn't have anything to do. Oliver hadn't been getting enough paperwork done to send her anything to deliver or file, and Isabel, who usually gave Felicity tons of work to do even on a "good day" hadn't sent her single thing to file, sign, or deliver all day, either. And the one time the brunette had stepped into the Executive Assistant's office about an hour ago, with her usual stoic expression in place, it had been to deliver a new, industrial strength lock for the Verdant entrance in the Lair that the hazel-eyed woman had purchased that morning, as well as both Felicity's and Oliver's keys to said lock. The woman then left without saying a single word about QC business or making a single insulting remark, although she hadn't said anything nice to Felicity either.

Now, in Oliver's office, after telling Oliver what her short day had been like so far, Felicity began talking to her boss. "Oliver, permission to speak freely?"

Oliver just smirked at that. "Of course. And do you ever do anything else?"

Felicity ignored the blonde man's teasing remark and plopped herself onto the chair that was on the opposite end of the table from her boss, handed Oliver the lock and his version of the key, and whined. "Oliver, I am so bored right now! You aren't giving me anything to do in there, and Isabel, for once, isn't burying my desk in a deluge of paperwork, probably because she is trying to get on team Arrow's…" Felicity ignored Oliver's eye roll at his assistant's name for his team of vigilantes and continued, "…good side by being nicer to me. So all I have on my desk right now is my computer. And let me tell you Oliver, a girl can only play so many games of Tetris, and spend so much time on Pinterest, before it all starts to get old! It's almost enough to make me miss the old 'Ice Queen Isabel'. She was a bitch, but at least that bitch gave me plenty of stuff to do to keep me occupied during the day!"

Oliver actually chuckled at that, the first and only time he laughed that day, causing Felicity to give the blonde man a serious look. "I'm serious, Oliver, I'm bored to tears out there. So, do you have anything for me to do here, or not? Because if there is no actual reason for me to be here, I would rather be at home watching my Ti-VO episodes of The Big Bang Theory until it's time to meet you at the Lair for our nightly Arrow business."

Oliver sighed, looking at the small amount of paperwork he had completed today, knowing that there was nothing there it wouldn't take him ten seconds to file himself. "No, Felicity, I don't have anything for you to do right now. Go ahead and go home."

Just as his assistant gave a dramatic fist pump to the air and nearly shouted a triumphant "Yes!" Oliver added in a slightly awkward tone of voice, "Right after you tell Isabel thank you for the new lock, and tell her to meet me at the Lair an hour before our usual meeting time for Arrow business. I trust you will notify her of our usual meeting times as well. I'm also certain Isabel made herself a key to let herself into the Lair properly this time." Felicity, obviously absorbing that Oliver wanted to talk to Miss Rochev privately again, nodded seriously and bounded off to do as the blond haired man had asked, before Oliver added. "And tell Miss Rochev I will talk to her then, not before."

Felicity slowly turned around towards her boss, partner in crime, and friend while giving the man a concerned look, "Okay. Sounds like trouble in paradise, though. The two of you have both been acting really weird all day. Do you need to talk about whatever is going on? Did something bad happen between you and Isabel already? I mean, you two just got together. True, I predicted she would mess it up, but I didn't think even she would be able to wreck a relationship she was in that fast…"

Oliver, who usually found Felicity's rants at least slightly endearing, couldn't help but find this particular verbal tirade from his bespectacled assistant incredibly annoying. He was already on edge enough about the situation with Isabel without someone interrogating him about it, and he wasn't about to share another piece of his family's dirty laundry with Felicity if he could help it. So, although Oliver regretted his tone of voice immediately afterward, his reply came out almost as a growl. "I don't want to talk about it, Felicity. Ever. So could you please just deliver my message for Miss Rochev and go home, so you will be well-rested to help me with my…nighttime activities?"

Felicity, taken aback back Oliver's angry outburst, just nodded and slowly backed out of the office. "Of course. Sorry. I didn't meant to pry. Have a good night, Oliver."

30 minutes later, Oliver called it quits early too. He couldn't focus at all now that he simultaneously felt guilty about both how he was handling things with Isabel and his harsh words against Felicity, and he mentally noted he needed to apologize to the latter party when he saw her at the Verdant tonight.

Oliver sighed and noted that, even though he had come into QC late today, and was leaving work early tonight, it had still been a long, stressful, awkward day…and he hadn't even gotten to the most challenging, awkward part of his day yet….confronting Isabel.

* * *

><p>As Oliver entered the Lair a little later that evening using the secret back entrance, having already put the new lock on the inner Verdant entrance right after getting off work that day, he was greeted by the sounds of two women fighting in his inner sanctum. When Oliver ran further inside his secret hideout to find out what was going on, he was surprised to see Isabel Rochev and Sara Lance sparring right in the middle of his training room. The blonde man noted that Sara was now wearing her Canary outfit, sans mask, while Isabel was wearing a mostly black costume of her own with hints of red on her legs, forearms, belt buckle, and shoulders. Oliver didn't let his surprise at happening upon two woman that, to his knowledge, had never even meet each other until today, and that Oliver had never introduced, engaging in an obviously friendly sparring match (the blonde man knew that both individuals fought differently when they were actually trying to immobilize someone) show as he watched the two females fight.<p>

Oliver watched the whole conflict silently, paying special attention to Isabel's fighting style, since he was already somewhat familiar with Sara's. To her credit, Oliver noted, Isabel's fighting style was very good, and the Arrow couldn't be certain it wasn't as good as, or even better than, his own skill in unarmed combat. Even so, Oliver was able to notice some slight flaws in Isabel' fighting style that temporarily left her vulnerable, and that Sara kept trying to exploit, although these moments, like Isabel's movements, passed by almost too quickly for Oliver to see. Furthermore, these flaws in the brunette's fighting style were compensated for by the speed and power behind the brunette's blocks, feints, and attacks, which Sara was trying and failing to keep up with. Sara Lance put up a good fight, but after almost ten minutes, the sparring match ended as Oliver predicted it would, with Isabel victorious. The hazel eyed woman wrapped her left leg around Sara's right leg and tripped the blonde woman onto the floor before she put her right foot onto the Canary's stomach, pinning her to the floor.

Oliver nodded in appreciation at the "show" he had just witnessed while the brunette helped the blonde woman off the floor with an outstretched hand. "That was a very impressive display. It looks like you two were pretty evenly matched there."

Oliver noted neither woman seemed surprised to see him, and that they both had probably noticed him enter the Lair with their peripheral vision while Isabel smirked. "What are you talking about? I won, remember? And I was going easy on Sara, there."

Sara rolled her eyes in response. "No way. We both know it took everything you had to beat me, and I almost had you several times, there. But…" Sara conceded with a look of obvious reluctance and slight embarrassment towards Isabel. "You are very, very fast. I guess I couldn't quite keep up. This time."

Isabel's smirk only grew wider at that remark, but her smile vanished when Oliver asked an obvious question. "Not that I mind the friendly banter between you two, but why, exactly, did you both wind up the Lair early, and why are you already acting so nice to each other?"

Sara laughed. "Oh, that. I came in to see if you had already come in early, Oliver, and to see how you were doing after the events of last night."

Isabel smiled cheekily at the Canary. "Oh don't worry about that. I saw to Oliver's wounds…among other things…" Isabel said with a suggestive tone while aiming an obviously flirtatious look at Oliver, which Sara did not notice the Arrow was ignoring. "Last night. He's going to be fine as long he gives himself time to heal."

Sara glanced between Oliver and Isabel with an obvious look on dawning realization on her face while Oliver internally grumbled at Isabel for letting the "cat out of the bag" about his relationship to the brunette that he was already planning on ending. Sara nodded and turned towards Oliver with an annoyed look on her face. "Oh, I see how it is. I guess now I know why you really turned down my advances towards you not too long ago. You already had a thing for Isabel here, didn't you?" Choosing to drop that subject when Oliver didn't respond to her playful verbal jab while Isabel grinned, Sara kept speaking. "Anyway, when I got here, Isabel and Felicity were already here, and Isabel was showing our I.T. expert some basic combat moves…I didn't know you were training Felicity to do field work…" Sara gave Oliver a concerned look.

Obviously noticing Oliver's annoyed expression. Isabel interjected. "We aren't. I just thought it would be helpful for Felicity to know how to defend herself if an enemy from the field ever came to her. So she wouldn't be a liability to the team if she was threatened."

After Oliver reluctantly nodded his agreement to Miss Rochev's point, the hazel-eyed woman added. "Anyway, when Sara got here, I was just finishing up my first training session with Felicity, which I had offered to give her when I saw her earlier today at work. The girl lasted an impressive half hour with my…aggressive style of training that I learned from Slade before she decided to call it quits for the day and go home to shower before meeting with the team tonight. I will have to admit, I was surprised at how quickly Felicity agreed to let me train her, even after I pointed out that you, Diggle, Roy, and maybe even Sara here, would definitely go too easy on her if she trained under any of you. And I am impressed that she lasted so long on her first training session. I hate to admit it, but I wasn't quite that tough when Slade started training me."

Oliver nodded. "That's probably because Felicity has already taken some basic self-defense classes. So, what happened after you got here, Sara?"

The youngest Lance nodded and explained how Felicity had introduced her to Isabel, and went over the events the Canary had missed at the Lair the night before (At least the ones the tech genius had witnessed), and how Isabel had been an operative for Slade Wilson in the past, but had risked her life to switch sides and help Team Arrow instead. "And when Felicity told me that she actually trusted Isabel to watch your back after the events of last night, even though she doesn't get along all that well with Miss Rochev here…at least not yet." Isabel responded to Sara's words with a shrug before the Canary kept speaking, "I decided that, even though I'm still not sure about her as a person, I would give Isabel the benefit of a doubt…as soon as I saw what she was made of in a real fight, and if she was combat proficient enough to train Felicity. And, as you can see, Miss Rochev here didn't fail to live up to either of those standards."

Isabel didn't even try to hide the self-satisfied grin on her face as Sara praised her fighting abilities, but that grin quickly vanished when Oliver reminded her why he was here early. "Well, I'm glad to hear your fighting skills are up to par, Miss Rochev, and that Felicity and you can at least tolerate each other now, but I believe we had some other business to settle tonight before we meet up with the team?"

Oliver's stern, "all business" tone of voice seemed to sober Isabel's mood instantly as she nodded with a stoic look back on her face, then turned to Sara. "Could you excuse Oliver and me for a bit, Miss Lance? We need to talk for a little while before the team meeting. Alone, if you don't mind."

Sara turned toward Oliver, then Isabel, obviously noticing the tension between them before she nodded. "Sure. I will be right back here when it's time for the rest of us to meet up with you, Oliver."

The blonde woman then left the room, leaving Oliver alone with Isabel Rochev, who was waiting patiently for Oliver to speak. However, Oliver was having a hard time doing so, as he struggled to come up with a way to confront the brunette about the…unpleasant truth that his mother had shared with him in the early hours of this morning.

Finally, after almost a minute, Oliver opened his mouth after deciding to just demand answers from Isabel, but the brunette woman who had obviously watched the mixture of anger, fear, and confusion that the Arrow was feeling pass over his features, beat him to the punch with an extremely worried look of her own. The hazel-eyed woman's surprisingly astute observation caught Oliver completely off guard as Miss Rochev spoke in an uncharacteristically shaky, obviously frightened voice. "Moira told you about what happened between me and Robert, didn't she?"


	9. Revelations and Repercussions: Part 2

After looking at Oliver unsuccessfully trying to stammer out what he was thinking for the last minute or so, and thinking over the fact that the man had been giving her the cold shoulder all day, despite the fact he had admitted that he was in love with her last night after she had confessed her own feelings for him, it suddenly hit Isabel what had changed Oliver's demeanor towards her. There was only one reason that Isabel could think of, other than her previous dealings with Slade, which Oliver had known about since last night, which could have made the vigilante suddenly become so cold towards her. Moira Queen had told her son about Robert's affair with her, which had taken place about six years ago. The brunette woman knew she would have to think quickly to deal with the fallout of her past catching up to her, as she had known it would eventually, while simultaneously cursing Moira Queen in her head for telling her son about her previous affair with Robert Queen so soon after Oliver and herself had confessed their feelings for each other.

Isabel wasn't stupid, she knew she would have to confront that thorny issue with Oliver sooner or later, but she had thought that she would have more time to find a way to make the blonde man understand. To find a way to tell Oliver how young and naïve and desperate for love she had been when she had started the affair with his father, the only man who had paid attention to the contributions of the shy, overachieving intern in his office who had had to work her way through business school by earning scholarships and doing odd jobs, instead of having her way paid for by a parent. Things had started out innocently enough, Robert Queen had praised Isabel's accomplishments, even calling her his most hardworking employee, and taken interests in her hobbies, likes and dislikes, and her traumatic past, unlike many of her fellow interns and male co-workers, who had either ignored her or only showed interest in getting in her pants. After a couple months of being the man's intern, he had even helped the brunette learn to drive and get her license, something she had been afraid to learn to do since her foster parents and brother had died in a car accident, so Isabel wasn't stuck riding the bus or taking a bicycle to work every day.

But after about 2 and a half months of being Robert's employee, things had changed. Robert Queen had begun confiding in Isabel about his personal life, as she had done with him. Among other things, Robert had told Isabel that even though he loved his two children, his marriage to his wife, Moira was an unhappy one filled with arguments and conflict, and that that relationship with Moira had become even more strained after he had discovered that his youngest child, Thea, had been the result of an affair his wife had had with another man. Although Robert didn't blame Thea, who he still considered his daughter, for that, the older man confessed that his wife's infidelity had made him doubt whether he should even try to continue working things out with Moira Queen. Given that Isabel had not had any knowledge of the Queen patriarch's previous string of affairs at the time, and everything the older man had done for her, Isabel's sympathies had been entirely with Robert when he told her this information, and she had boldly announced that she thought Robert Queen deserved better than Moira. Then Robert had smiled and replied that he was hoping she would say that, and offered to let Isabel spend the night with him at a Penthouse Apartment he had hidden away. And Isabel, fearing that the positive attention Robert had been giving her, which had been the closest thing to being loved she had known since her foster family had died, would end if she refused him, had said yes.

Several months passed, with most of Isabel's days being spent working hard at the office to impress Robert, who continued to praise her work while the two of them confided in each other while no one else was around, and spending several nights a week with her boss in the penthouse apartment he had bought for her. Despite her feelings of anger towards Moira, Isabel had felt guilty about the affair while it had lasted, but she had justified it by telling herself that Robert's actions indicated that he was in love with her, and, having no previous experience in having serious relationships, Isabel had believed, or perhaps convinced herself, that she was in love with the eldest Queen as well. After all, the brunette had asked herself, what else could the pleasant feelings she got when Robert listened to her about her interest and confided in him about her past, or when the older man praised her for her accomplishments, possibly be?

Even so, Isabel had not liked having to deceive people on a regular basis and being Robert's secret lover, especially when rumors began to fly around Queen Consolidated about her relationship to the company's founder, and the brunette had been labeled the "office slut" by some of the more gossipy members of Robert's staff. That, and Isabel's continuing guilt over the affair, had caused her to threaten to break things off with Robert…until the man had offered to divorce his wife and run away with Isabel to someplace where nobody would know his name, and nobody would judge the two of them for being together. And Isabel, still desiring the man's continued attention and affections, knowing that she loved the Queen patriarch, and having told herself that she was in love with the older man until she had believed it, had agreed to that plan. But things had not turned out as Robert had said they would, and the man had delayed their getaway several times. In the meantime Isabel was "let go" from Queen Consolidated. Then Robert Queen, the only person who had made Isabel feel loved and important since she was 12, had died, and that had just about shattered the brunette. After she had mourned for the eldest Queen, there had been little room left in Isabel's fractured heart for anything but anger…an anger a man who found her in this traumatized state, named Slade Wilson, had been all too eager to exploit…which was how Isabel had found herself in her present situation after meeting and falling in love with Oliver.

All of these thoughts and memories quickly passed through Isabel's head while Oliver was contemplating how to confront her in the Lair, and the brunette reflected on the great, almost tragic irony of her present situation. She now knew she had never been **in love** with Robert Queen. Oh, she had loved the way the man listened to her, paid attention to her, sympathized with her problems and troubled past, and the way he praised her for her accomplishments. But Isabel now recognized that the love she had had for Robert Queen had not been of the romantic variety, and may have been more akin to the love for a friend or…something else that Isabel really didn't want to think about. And the reason she now knew that was standing right in front of her.

With Oliver, there was a spark…a fire, that, without exception, she had never felt for any other man, and the blonde man truly seemed to understand her, and her loneliness and pain, and be able to empathize with those feelings, better than anyone else she had met, often without saying a word. So Isabel knew, without a doubt, that she was in love with the young billionaire…whom she probably would never have even met if not for her previous ill-advised relationship with Robert, and her dealings with Slade that had resulted from that affair. And Isabel found it profoundly unfair that the very sequence of events that had allowed her to find the only man she had ever truly fallen in love with, the hero who she had risked her life to help and that she had foolishly begun to hope for a future with, was now threatening her relationship with that man. With all of these things in mind, Isabel tried and failed to keep a slight shudder of fear out her voice when she asked Oliver a question she already knew the answer to: "Moira told you about what happened between me and Robert, didn't she?"

Oliver Queen nodded with an obviously taken-aback expression, but then his face hardened into a stoic look, making Isabel worry about what that hard look meant as Oliver spoke again. "I'm not going to ask how you knew that, since I know I have been acting…differently around you today. But yes. My mother told me about your affair with my father. And to tell you the truth, I'm still trying to wrap my head around it. I guess I don't have to ask you if it's true, if that's the first thing you thought of when I started acting different."

Isabel sighed and nodded. "It's true. Robert and I…" The brunette thought referring the deceased Queen in that way might make this conversation slightly less awkward. "…did have an affair several years ago. I suppose that I knew, even then, that what he and I were doing was wrong but I went along with it anyway because …I had been alone, been ignored, by pretty much everyone for so long, before that time, and Robert paid attention to me, taught me to face my fears, and listened to me when I talked to him. He made me feel loved, and I loved him for that…"Seeing Oliver's nervous twitch at that proclamation, and realizing that she probably wasn't helping her case any, Isabel hastily added in a businesslike tone of voice. "And I convinced myself, that I was in love with him, and that that made up for everything wrong that Robert and were doing." Isabel looked at Oliver with a stoic expression and spoke with flat tone of voice that were in contrast to her words, and the pain in Isabel's eyes as she added. "So I guess that's why it hurt me so much when he died. And that pain turned into anger. And in my anger, I blamed your family for what happened to him..." Seeing that the hard look on Oliver's face had seemed to grow even colder, Isabel quickly added. "But I realize now that I was wrong. I know that your family wasn't to blame for what happened to Robert, and…" Isabel actually allowed some softness to return to her features as she smiled for a brief moment while she added. "Now I know that I wasn't **in love** with Robert, because, thanks to you, I know what that kind of love…being in love, actually feels like."

Isabel looked meaningfully at Oliver, who seemed to catch her meaning when the beginnings of a smile started to appear on his face, but it quickly morphed into a frown. "I don't know if you can possibly imagine how weird it is for me to hear you say that. I guess I should be glad though, because at least that probably means that you aren't just….what is that damn word that means you are putting your feelings for my father on me?!"

"Projecting." Isabel supplied helpfully with her stoic mask back in place. "And no. That isn't what is happening here at all. Yes, you do have many characteristics in common with your fath…Robert that made it hard not to compare the two of you at first. But that was before I saw that you are completely your own man. That you are brave, and compassionate, and honorable, sometimes even to the point of stupidity. And I love you for all of that…"Isabel tentatively tried to put her hand on Oliver's shoulder while looking at the man with a fond expression on her face, only to have the man gently brush it away. Isabel shrugged at Oliver's response, then added. "I understand why you are angry at me for what I did back then... And I am sorry for whatever damage I may have done to your family. But I wasn't trying to hurt anyone."

Oliver just nodded in reply, so Isabel continued speaking in her usual businesslike tone, which was in direct contrast to the sincere tone of voice she had been using. "Is there anything else you wanted to talk to me about?"

Oliver, with a stoic expression still on his face, sighed. "I have questions. Lots of questions. There are probably a thousand questions I can think of right now, but I don't think I will like any of your answers. Still, I have to know…where you ever planning on telling me that you had an affair with my father, or would you just have been happy to string me along forever?!"

Isabel shook her head. "No. I was going to tell you later. I was trying to find a way to tell you that you would…"

"What!" Oliver was almost shouting now. "You thought if you told me in just the right way, that I would just shrug and say, 'Oh, you had an affair with my father that nearly cost my parents their marriage six years ago? That's no big deal.' Is that what you were hoping for?"

A fire danced in front of Isabel's eyes as her blood began to boil. "I don't like your tone. Get off your high horse for one second, Oliver! You may be a good man now, but we both know your own relationship history is far from perfect!" Oliver just shrugged in reply to that as Isabel continued in a calmer voice. "I'm sorry, that was uncalled for."

Oliver shook his head. "No, it was a fair point. You are right. I've definitely made some seriously bad choices in my dealings with the opposite sex as well."

Isabel nodded. "Exactly. And no, I didn't expect you to just shrug it off when you heard about my past, Oliver. But I did hope that, given your feeling for me and your own past…" Isabel had a hopeful look on her face for a full second before her expression became more serious "…that you might be able to forgive me for my own mistakes. Because I'm not the person that did those things anymore, Oliver. You've inspired me to become someone better."

Oliver chuckled mirthlessly, but Isabel noted that there was obviously no joy in the man's laugher. "You still don't get it, do you!? I'm not angry with you because you had an affair with a married man. I've made too many bad choices of my own to judge you for that. And I **should** hold it against you that you hurt my mother by doing what you did, and for the record, she is obviously still very upset with you…" Isabel nodded in acknowledgment of Oliver's words as the man continued speaking, "but I don't. It would be hypocritical for me to judge you for that too. Because I've definitely hurt people with the way I used to casually use woman…before the island forced me to grow the hell up. So even though I really should hate you for what you did and what you did to my parents' marriage, I don't. Do you want to know why I am mad at you?!"

Isabel just nodded at Oliver's rhetorical question, and the blonde hero continued speaking. "I'm angry that you didn't tell me any of this. I'm angry that you've been lying to me for so long. And make no mistake, that is what you were doing when you made advances on my person while you kept a secret like this from me. And now I keep going over all my memories of the months since I've known you, wondering how far your duplicity goes. How much of what happened between us was real. And that is something that I do hold against you, Isabel! Because now I don't know if I can trust you, or if anything that happened between us was real. Damn it! You and I had sex in Russia, and for the life of me, I can't figure out now whether you did that to lower my guard so that I would fall into your and Slade's trap later, or whether we were actually having a moment there. And I still don't know whether anything you said to me that night at the bar was true!"

Isabel sighed and looked Oliver straight in the eyes with a fiery intensity that told Oliver she was telling the truth. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you what happened between me and Robert before. But my mind wasn't in a good place when I was working for Slade. And I didn't tell you about the affair last night because I thought that you would push me away if you knew about that. But everything I told you that night in Russia was true. Also, Even though seducing you that night was part of the plan to lower your guard around me so I could take over your company…I did feel something when we were together that night. When we made love…it **became** real for me. And I think that was the night I really started to fall in love with you."

Isabel looked down to avoid Oliver's eyes so that he could not see the sadness in her own hazel orbs as she added. "I'm sorry for making you doubt that my feelings for you were real. But I do love you, Oliver Queen!"

Isabel looked up at Oliver again, revealing the anger that was mixed with the sadness that she felt towards the man as she spoke in an accusatory tone. "But after I risked my life to turn against Slade, and after I saved your life, I thought that I had earned your trust. I guess I was wrong. "

Isabel cursed herself for being so uncharacteristically vulnerable as a single tear fell down her face, but acknowledged that Oliver seemed to have that effect on her these days. In truth, Oliver Queen was the only person she actually felt comfortable enough around that, lately, her emotional barriers seemed to crumble down when she was alone with him. Oliver Queen made her feel human. And Isabel loved him for that, but right now, that fact was a pain in the ass, because the emotions that Oliver was forcing her to confront were painful ones. Right now, Isabel felt guilt for keeping her affair with Robert a secret from Oliver, and for all of the numerous ways she had hurt the man she loved and the members of his family. And she also felt a profound sadness, mixed with impatience and anger toward the blonde man because Oliver didn't seem to trust her anymore, even after all she had done for him.

But Isabel's mood received a slight boost when Oliver Queen did something unexpected, as the man raised one of his green glove clad hands to her face and wiped the tear off it and raised her head up with the other hand until the brunette's eyes could meet his own before he spoke. "I believe you. I just needed to hear you say those things. And you're right, risking yourself to help me…that took a lot of guts. And you have earned my trust. I'm sorry for doubting you. But like I said, my experiences on the island…made it hard for me to trust people, and you didn't help your case by keeping a secret that big from me so long. Still, in light of everything you are doing to help me, I guess I can forgive you for not telling me the truth about your past right away."

Isabel smiled in response to Oliver's words, but her smile quickly turned into a frown when the man pulled his hands away from her face and put a stony expression on his features again. "Unfortunately, as far as this…"Oliver gestured between himself and Isabel. "…goes, it doesn't matter. I am grateful for your assistance stopping Slade, Miss Rochev, and for helping me to run Queen Consolidated. And I hope we can continue to be good partners and friends on the battlefield and in the boardroom, but you need to understand that is all we can ever be to each other."

A look of confusion and anger passed over Isabel's features, as Oliver's words hit her like a slap in the face. "Why?! You said you forgave me for what I did, and for not telling you about it. And it's obvious we have feelings for each other, so what is the problem, exactly!?"

Oliver shook his head and gave the brunette that all but stated, 'Isn't it obvious?' before he sighed and added. "You had an affair with my father."

Oliver shook his head and elaborated on his words while Isabel was still opening her mouth to make an angry protest to Oliver's words. "And I forgave you for that. But I don't think I will ever be able to get that thought out of my head. Forgiving you is one thing, but forgetting that you were with my dad…"Oliver shook his head again sadly. "I'm pretty sure that's going to be impossible for me. Now that I know what the two of you did, that knowledge will always be in the way, and I don't think I will ever feel comfortable having a romantic relationship with you now. Besides…" Oliver added. "I'm still trying to make amends with my family, as you yourself suggested, and being in a relationship with you would be a giant step in the wrong direction. It would hurt my mom to see me with the woman who had had an affair with my dad, and even though she and I have had our differences, that is not something I would do to her. Also, I don't think she would ever forgive me for doing that now that I know the truth about your affair with my father..." Oliver looked at Isabel seriously. "So now you and I are through in any non-platonic capacity, do you understand?"

The hooded man turned back towards the back entrance to the Lair to find Sara and tell her that she could come back in to wait with Isabel and himself for the others to arrive for the team meeting, not waiting for Isabel to respond to his rhetorical question, but the brunette did so anyway. "Fine. I will stop. I will stop flirting with you. I will stop looking at you in that way we both know you like. And I will even try to stop loving you. But you have to do something for me first."

Oliver turned towards the brunette and huffed in annoyance. "What? What do you want me to do so that we can get past this?"

Isabel did her best to compose herself so that she wouldn't show any emotion while she gave her condition. "Simple. I want you to look me in the eyes, and tell me you don't love me. That everything you said last night was a lie. That Russia, and all those kisses you gave me not 24 hours ago, meant nothing to you."

* * *

><p>Oliver Queen sighed and shook his head while avoiding eye contact with Isabel. 'Why does this woman have to make things so difficult?! As if it wasn't bad enough that I fell for someone that I can never have, because she had already screwed things up. Like it wasn't bad enough that Isabel hurt me by making me fall in love with her before I had to reject her advances. Now the woman has to pull something like this?' Knowing that Isabel's words demanded a response, the green clad man settled on, "I can't. I'm not going to say that I don't have feelings for you, because we both know it would be a lie. Because, despite everything, even though I shouldn't, I still love you. I just wished that mattered."<p>

As Oliver predicted, Isabel wouldn't budge, and she replied with an angry, defiant look on her face. "Of course it matters, Oliver! If you and I love each other, that's important! That's something worth fighting for! Give us a chance, and we can find a way to work through all of those problems together." For a brief moment, before looking away, Isabel gazed at Oliver with warm, sincere look in her eyes. "If we truly love each other, we can overcome any obstacle in our path…"

Oliver smiled for a second before he carefully slid a frown back onto his face. In truth, he really liked this idealistic side of Isabel, which she did not often let people see. Right now, the Arrow could almost see the naïve dreamer that Isabel must have been before his father and Slade had gotten a hold of her, and the blonde man really loved that hidden part of the usually reserved, pragmatic, Isabel's psyche. And that just made rejecting the woman now that much harder. "It's not that simple, Isabel…"

But Isabel interrupted the speech Oliver had intended to give, and the man noticed that a more, shrewd calculating look had entered the brunette's eyes. The kind that a lioness made as she was trying to figure out the right strategy for pouncing on a gazelle. "It could be if you wanted it to be, Oliver. We can make our own memories, good ones. And with time, I believe we will both be able to move past the… mistakes I made in the past…." Oliver was, for a brief, mad moment, so tempted by Isabel's offer that he was prepared to give in to her proposal, until the hazel-eyed woman added. "And we could keep it a secret. Moira won't ever have to know about us." Isabel shrugged and added. "I'll admit that the thought of hiding our relationship doesn't appeal to me, but…"

Oliver shook his head. "Good. Because it shouldn't. I know that both of us have played that game before in the past, of trying to have a secret relationship, and I think we have enough experience to know that it never ends well. I may have to hide certain aspects of myself from the world to be the Arrow, but that level of deception? To lie to my family and friends about not being in a relationship?! No. That is not the kind of man that I am anymore, Isabel. I deserve better than that, and so do you! You deserve somebody that you can be in a real relationship with. Someone who can openly date you, and show the world how proud they are to be at your side. And I hope you find that person someday. It just can't be me."

Isabel Rochev smiled sadly, just for an instant at the man she loved "I understand. You have honor."

Oliver shrugged. "It's a recent development."

Isabel chuckled, causing Oliver to be confused before the woman elaborated. "I'm sorry, it's just ironic. I love that about you, Oliver, that you are an honorable man. I just think it's sad that that part of you is keeping us apart. But I will still keep my promise to you, Oliver. I won't let Slade harm you or your family. And…if you change your mind…" Isabel ran her hand across Oliver's face in a suggestive fashion for several seconds before the man finally pulled away, "about us, you know where my office is."

Oliver, who didn't really know how to reply to that, just shook his head and said, "I'm sorry.", and exited the room to find Sara, and also to find and apologize to Felicity for snapping at her this afternoon. It took fifteen minutes before Diggle, Felicity, Oliver, Sara, and surprisingly, Roy Harper, came into the room. Enough time that Isabel had already finished crying for a minute straight in private, dried her tears, and reapplied her makeup so that no one would see how much emotional pain she was in. Once everyone had arrived at the Lair, the team meeting got underway.

* * *

><p>Predictably, the Lair bursts into a flurry of activity as everybody walked into the room. Isabel noted that Oliver seemed to be in the middle of interrogating Roy as to the reasons he had gone AWOL from the team, which is the first that the brunette had heard of that happening (although Isabel mentally face palmed herself for not asking where Roy had been when the rest of Oliver's team had been saving the blonde man last night). Roy explained that he had gotten tired of the tyranny of "King Queen's" over the team and left town, but that he had come back to Starling City when Thea had called him and asked him to come back to help her brother fight Slade, even though he still wasn't happy with how the Arrow was running things... Roy and Oliver were in the middle of arguing about the younger man's disapproval of the blonde man's methods when Roy finally noticed that Isabel Rochev was standing in the middle of the Lair and the young man pointed at the female co-CEO accusingly. "What the hell is this bitch doing here!?"<p>

Oliver stepped between Roy and Isabel after the latter party glared at the man in the red hoodie and popped her knuckles in a threatening manner. The blonde man sighed. "Isabel Rochev has been helping us fight Slade since last night, Roy. She used to work for the man, which means she has a wealth of strategic knowledge that we have already been making use of against my nemesis." Oliver ignored Roy and Diggle's accusatory glares at the woman in question and added while looking at every member of his team in term. "She is currently risking her life by turning on Slade to help us. And she saved my life last night. So, I will kindly ask all of you to refrain from questioning Miss Rochev's loyalty in front of me."

Isabel smirked when she realized that Oliver was still protective of her, and glared at Roy when the young man mumbled, "Yes, King Queen," under his breath.

Felicity, deciding to try to break the tension in the room, spoke up. "So, what's on the docket for our Team Arrow business tonight, Oliver?"

Oliver rolled his eyes. "I told you. We aren't going to go by that name."

Isabel shrugged. "Why not? It sounds like a good team name to me."

Everyone else in the room, including Felicity turned towards the brunette and stared at her for several seconds in disbelief. After all, Felicity's teammates had heard a number of the I.T. girl's horror stories about "Ice Queen Rochev", and were well aware of Felicity's antagonistic relationship with the slightly older woman. So everybody in the room was surprised that Isabel had just openly agreed with Felicity about something, although the tech genius, who then turned toward Oliver and grinned widely, seemed to be pleasantly so as Isabel responded to the team's looks with a sarcastic tone. "What? I'm allowed to agree with Felicity if I think she's right about something, even if she and I don't always like each other very much, aren't I?"

Oliver, who was the first to shake off his surprise, nodded. "Of course. But I don't really like that name because I think it implies that I'm the only one on this team that matters. That's just not true." Oliver looked meaningfully at Roy. "Each member of this team contributes something, and it's working together, as a team, that makes us strong." The youngest member of the team looked appropriately chastised as he turned away from Oliver as the young billionaire added. "My mother just notified me five minutes ago that she is going to be giving a speech to honor Sebastian Blood and publicly denounce whomever killed him…" Oliver visibly tried and failed not to smile when Isabel smirked and rolled her eyes in response to Oliver's announcement. The brunette knew full well that Slade's sniveling toady was dead as a result of Oliver's words, which had been inspired by the Intel she had given him. She would not be shedding any tears over Brother Blood's passing. Oliver continued speaking. "And she expects me and Thea to be there, so I won't be here long. Plus, after my altercation last night, I'm not exactly in fighting shape right now. So this meaning will mostly a time for us to plan how we are going to attack Slade's HQ, which Isabel will be telling us more about tonight."

Isabel raised her eyebrow at Oliver, since both of them knew full well the two of them hadn't discussed assaulting Slade's HQ before, but the woman decided to let it go as Oliver turned to Diggle and Roy. "Oh, and could you please get that blood sample from Roy, like we were talking about earlier, so that Star Labs can synthesize a cure for the Mirakuru so that we can take away Slade's edge while we are going over this plan?"

Diggle and Roy nodded while the African-American man did as he was told, but Isabel simply looked at Oliver in confusion before the man put a hand to his face in apparent embarrassment. "Right. I forgot to tell you, Miss Rochev. I first encountered Slade and the Mirakuru on the Island I was stranded on for five years. Long story short, there was a cure for the serum that I was able to acquire before I…lost it." Isabel noted the hesitation in Oliver's voice and decided he probably wasn't being entirely truthful, but let it go. "But that means that it is definitely possible to synthesize a cure for the serum..."

Oliver looked at Isabel meaningfully, causing the brunette to wonder if Oliver suspected she was infected with Mirakuru for some reason, but the green clad man kept talking. "So, Isabel, what can you tell me about Slade's assets right now, how many men he has, and most of all, what his HQ is like?"

Isabel smirked. "The good news is that most of Slade's financial assets are gone right now. You see, even though Slade trained me to fight, he was planning to keep me out of the field until his final conflict with you, Oliver, because I was so important to what Slade was doing. I was basically Slade's glorified assistant and banker. I made sure that people, and shipments of illicit cargo of one kind or another went were they were supposed to go…and…" Isabel's smirk grew wider as she paused dramatically. "I was in charge of handling the man's money. And I'm sorry to report that, as of this morning, all of the funds that Mr. Wilson did not have me invest in Queen Consolidated have somehow been donated to a charity in Russia that is trying to improve the conditions of the orphanages in that country."

Oliver smiled at Isabel's words and praised her choice. "That was a very nice touch, Miss Rochev. Are you sure that Slade doesn't have any other funds stashed away, though?"

Felicity nodded. "Yeah, the man would be stupid to not have his own private nest egg stashed away somewhere." The other people in the room nodded In agreement.

The brunette shook her head. "Not that I know of. He probably could have borrowed money from Mr. Blood, but he is dead now, and that man donated all of his funds to various causes to improve Starling City in his will. It is possible that Slade could make more money by becoming a mercenary again, but with both SCPD and A.R.G.U.S. looking for him right now, he may find that more difficult to do than he did before. Plus, you already know that he is coming after your family and city, and Slade will be expecting a counterattack. He's desperate right now…so he will be making his next move against you soon."

Isabel sighed. "And that's just the start of the bad news. If Slade got even half a dozen men raiding that prison transport, that will bring the number of men in his army up to 12, including all of Mr. Blood's old followers, who I expect will continue to follow Slade now, I don't know how many of them will have Mirakuru in their systems already, but I expect it will be at least half of them. And I will give you the address of Slade's HQ later, Oliver, once you've healed up enough to go back into the field."

Oliver sighed and rolled his eyes in response to Isabel being protective of him, and demanded that Isabel give him the location of Slade's hideout, but Isabel refused. Even if he wasn't willing to reciprocate her feelings, she was not about to let the man she loved risk his life on a fool's crusade…again. However, the brunette did agree to give Felicity the address…as soon as Oliver had left the Lair at the end of the meeting. The Arrow reluctantly agreed to those terms before Isabel added. "Assaulting Slade's fortress directly would be suicide anyway, unless we had an army or several tons of explosives. Slade's personal office is on the 30th story of a building with surveillance cameras all over the place that would alert my previous employer to our movements and the only doors to that level are military grade blast doors. Similarly, the only window on the 30th story is bulletproof and shatter resistant. There is only one way that you could possibly get in…"

"And how would we do that?" Diggle asked pointedly. "The place sounds neigh impregnable to me."

Isabel nodded. "It is. And that is why I would have to go in first and disable the blast doors and security cameras, tonight…"

Oliver Queen's protest was immediate. "No way, you aren't going there alone. Slade will kill you. We don't even have the cure to combat the man with right now, after all"

Isabel shook her head. "It's the only way, Oliver. I don't think Slade knows I've turned on him yet. I called him earlier today and told him that I was having more trouble stealing QC from you then I expected and told him that someone had hacked his banking account and stolen his money. But he has no reason to suspect it was me. So I should be able to get in the building to let the team in without too many problems. My only condition is that Oliver won't be allowed to be part of the operation. I saw to his wounds personally last night, and he's too hurt to fight now."

Diggle and Roy shook their heads in disbelief that Isabel was only staying in contact with Slade, and not still working for him, while Oliver was busy blowing a gasket as he slammed his fist on the table next to where Miss Rochev was now sitting. "I said no! It's too risky! I will not let you put yourself in danger like that, Isabel! Especially if I can't be there to back you up."

"And it could be a trap, set by Isabel and Slade to lure Oliver's allies away from him." Roy added, but everyone else in the room ignored that comment.

Once again trying to take on the role of peacemaker, Felicity looked down at her watch and exclaimed. "Wow! Look at the time! It looks like it's almost time for Oliver to change and go meet his mother and sister for Moira Queen's very important speech! You better go do that, Oliver!"

Oliver Queen shook his head, but continued to scowl at Isabel as he added. "We will discuss your foolhardy plane tomorrow, Miss Rochev." The blonde then turned towards his other teammates and added. "And don't even think of going after Slade without me tonight, or letting Miss Rochev here get herself killed!"

Oliver Queen stormed off in anger to get changed, and all the members of the team besides Isabel and Felicity left the Lair, despite Isabel's vocal protest that they should stay in the Lair and listen to her own plan, not wanting to provoke Oliver further by trying to make a move against Slade on their own, although Diggle did mutter something about the whole meeting being a waste of time, and Sara vocally agreed with him. After Isabel reluctantly gave Felicity, who just shrugged in apology for not following the brunette's plan, the address to Slade H.Q., after making the bespectacled woman promise not to give it to Oliver, both woman left the Lair at the same time…before Isabel ran back inside, claiming she had forgotten her cellphone.

An hour and a half later, Felicity also returned to the Lair, as the woman had accidentally left her purse at that location. After reentering the Lair and picking up her purse, however, Isabel noted that there was stilled video footage of Isabel Rochev on the screen. Wondering what was going on, Felicity hit the play button on the video message that the brunette woman had left. It only took Felicity 10 seconds to start panicking after she started watching the video, and the blonde's woman's hands automatically flew to her cellphone as she hit a number on her speed dial. "Come on, Oliver! Pick up your damn phone!"

* * *

><p>45 minutes ago…<p>

Isabel Rochev entered the 30th floor to Slade's HQ without any problems, as the woman walked through the blast door that Slade let her in through with her sword in its hilt across her shoulder and her head held high. Although she was extremely nervous about the plan she was about to carry out, she knew that it had a better chance of succeeding than Oliver's plan to storm Slade's hideout at a later date, so she didn't let her anxiety show itself on her features. Besides, if she was successful, acting against Slade now would prevent what Isabel knew would be Slade next move, if he was still following his old plan…to kill Moira or Thea Queen. Although the brunette felt guilty about not telling Team Arrow (Isabel still agreed with Felicity that it was a good name) about the next step in Slade's plan, she had rationalized to herself that if she did so, that news would reach Oliver's ears. And if that happened Isabel feared that Oliver would try to go after Slade alone again and get himself killed. Admittedly, the hazel eyed woman knew, going after Slade by herself wasn't a much better plan, but she knew that at least she would (probably) have the element of surprise on her side. Tonight, she was going to cut off the head of the snake of Slade's organization: Slade Wilson himself.

With all of these things in mind, Isabel entered Slade's office with a feigned expression of confidence on her face. And when she noticed that the man she was after, her one eyed former teacher, was just standing with his back to her in his office, talking to his imaginary friend again, Isabel actually allowed herself to smile as she pulled out her sword and strode confidently toward Slade. For one bright, hopeful moment, Isabel actually allowed herself to think that killing Slade was going to be a lot easier than she expected, and that she might just have time to get away with it afterward.

But then everything went to hell.

Within seconds of Isabel entering the room, 3 of the Disciples of Blood burst into the room, and Slade turned around with his own blade in his hands, and all four individuals, who Isabel guessed must be enhanced by Mirakuru due to the speed of their movements, charged Isabel at once.

The brunette put up a good fight while her body and her blade danced and darted around the room as if they were one being, and she even managed to wound two of Blood's old followers, in the arm and leg, respectfully, but to her horror, Isabel noted all 4 of her opponents were faster than her, making her guess that the watered down Mirakuru in her own system was wearing off. Still, the three Disciples were obviously much less skilled at fighting than Isabel, and Slade's movements were erratic as the angry look on the man's face indicated that he was currently being blinded by rage, so Isabel lasted a whole minute before one of her opponents got in a lucky hit to her sword arm from behind her, causing the woman to yell in pain and drop her sword. Seconds later, all three of Blood's Disciples converged on the stunned brunette and restrained the women together, leaving Isabel completely immobilized while Slade, sword still in hand, gave Isabel a grim smile. Isabel, now trying and failing to get free from her captors, turned to Slade. "How did you know…"

"That you were going to try to kill me? That you betrayed me for Oliver Queen, just as that man betrayed me by saving that Canary tart on the island instead of Shado, the love of my life?" Slade smirked. "I may be insane, but I'm not a fool, Miss Rochev. I had my I.T. expert check on your claim about what happened to my money this morning, and he says that it was definitely you who authorized the transfer of funds…"

Ignoring the last sentence the one-eyed man had spoken, Isabel looked at Slade incredulously. "That's it!? That's the huge betrayal that Oliver did to you to make you want to kill him?! That he saved someone else's life instead of some other girl that you had a thing for?! I was right, you really are a psychopath! I was right to turn against you!"

Slade's smirk died on his lips and turned into a scowl. "Don't speak of things you know nothing about, Miss Rochev! Besides, you of all people know the wrath that can build inside you when your lover is taken from you. Although…" Slade spoke with a shake of his head. "It appears that you have found a new love to take Robert's place, haven't you?!"

Without waiting for a reply, Slade turned on a large stereo set with a remote control that had been on his desk and said. "This is from an audio recording that one of Mr. Blood's spies recorded in the Queen Consolidated board room last night. It was on a flash drive that I'm guessing Sebastian left on my desk just before his…premature demise."

Within seconds, the recording started to play, as Isabel's own voice came out of the speakers. "…and it would be a disastrous blow to our company's already dismal PR if we didn't give Oliver Queen our full support during his family's present crisis. Despite the man's recent …sporadic interest in the company's affairs. To do otherwise at this point could affirm many people's perspective that Queen Consolidated is a soulless corporation with a non-family friendly environment that cares about nothing but money. And we all know that we don't need any more of that kind of publicity after a certain…event last year."

Slade stopped the audio recording and sneered and shook his head at Isabel, who was still struggling to break free from her stronger captors. "It seems pretty obvious, based on that touching speech…" Slade's tone was sarcastic now, "...That you have actually allowed yourself to fall for Oliver Queen, to the point that you decided to betray our organization for him. I've seen the infamous Queen charm in action myself, Miss Rochev, and I know that it can have a very powerful effect on women. But I never would have thought that you, my best student, would be dumb enough, or weak enough, to fall for it a second time."

Slade hit a few more buttons on his remote, and a TV monitor next to the speakers came on, showing visual footage of Oliver and Moira Queen in the Queen living room last night, and the audio kicked in several seconds later as Slade unmuted the TV after speaking. "It's too bad that Oliver doesn't share the same sentiments towards you."

Oliver's voice came to life on the TV monitor. "Thank you for telling me what happened between Isabel and my father. You were right, I did have a right to know about that and you were right to tell me so that I would know to reject Isabel's advances from now on…but I wish you had told me that about Isabel before I…" Slade impatiently fast forwarded then tape, to the point where Oliver had said, "I guess it's a good thing that Isabel really didn't mean all that much to me, then. Just one casual fling that I'll have to let go of. I'm sure I won't miss her much." Slade paused the tape.

Slade grinned in what the man had obviously mistaken for triumph, as he obviously believed he had just broken the brunette's spirit, but it took everything Isabel had to look upset and not smile. Because, despite whatever amount of time Slade had spent on the island with Oliver, Isabel now knew that the one-eyed man didn't understand the younger man at all. If anything, Isabel could tell from the look that Oliver had given his mother at one point during that video footage, that the blonde man had, in a roundabout way, told his mother that he loved her Also, the brunette could tell from a slight tremor in Oliver voice that would have been undetectable to the untrained ear, that Oliver had been lying when he said he didn't care about her. Obviously, Oliver had believed her about Slade's surveillance of his home, and had lied for Slade' benefit.

Still, when Slade walked close to her, Isabel tried to appear sad as the one eyed man stepped in front of her and put his blade inches from the hazel-eyed woman's chest. "You betrayed me because you loved a man who doesn't even love you back. I should kill you for that…but despite the weakness you've displayed over the past 48 hours, you were still my best and brightest student…and I think that would be an incredible waste. You were like a daughter to me Isabel..." The brunette tried and failed to pull away as Slade ran his hand across Isabel's face. "And your betrayal pains me almost as much as Oliver's did. But..." Slade raise the index finger of his free hand in the air. "I will give you one chance to redeem yourself and swear your undying loyalty to me. Then we will destroy Oliver Queen, the man who spurned you, together. What do you say?"

Isabel pretended to seriously contemplate Mr. Wilson's offer for a second and replied, with a thoughtful look on her face. "I say…" Then, in a quick gesture of defiance, Isabel spat into Slade Wilson's face…right into his one remaining eye."

"Ah!" Slade jumped back in surprise for a second before cleaning out his eye with his free hand while one of Blood's follower's hit Isabel in the stomach hard enough to make her cough up blood. When the one eyed man recovered, he glared at Isabel. "I'm afraid you will have to die for that, sweet Ravager. But before you do, I am going to tell you something, so you can die in complete despair. Because Oliver has now taken two women I love away from me, I am going to take both his mother and his sister from him, tonight. And then, since I don't have my army yet, and my financial assets are drained because of you, I might just skip destroying Starling City and just kill Oliver Queen right after his relatives. I think he will have felt enough despair by then anyway. Now, since it seems that the Mirakuru in your system has already worn off too much to help you heal you from any injuries, if that wound on your arm is any indication, this is going to kill you."

As Slade drew his sword back to strike her heart, Isabel, deciding that she wasn't going to give Slade the satisfaction of seeing her die afraid, did not allow the fear for herself or Oliver's family appear on her face as she glared at her former employer defiantly. "Kill me. Don't kill me. It doesn't matter. You don't understand Oliver Queen, and that is why he is going to beat you! He already…"

But Isabel's defiant words were cut short as Slade thrust his sword straight into Isabel's heart. After his minions allowed the woman's body to hit the ground, the one eyed man kneeled before the form of his former pupil, which was now bleeding all over the floor and stroked her hair for over a minute while speaking. "I'm sorry that I had to do that, my sweet Ravager. But you left me no choice. Don't worry, though. I don't blame you. This is Oliver's Queen's fault. He used his charm to cast a spell on you, just like he did my beloved Shado. It's his fault you are dead now, and I promise that I will avenge you." Slade then placed a single kiss on Isabel's forehead.

After Slade got up and noticed that his men were staring at him, he glared at his three henchmen. "What are you staring at!? We all have jobs to do tonight! Tell the others that you are all to descend upon that Star Labs warehouse that I told you about, and search it from top to bottom! I need to know if they have anything I can use to create enough Mirakuru to create an army to destroy Starling City with… If I can find one. If not, I will have to be satisfied with destroying Oliver and his family, I suppose" As the three Disciples of Blood nodded and tried to leave, Slade's voice interrupted them first. "But first, I want one of you to prep my fastest car and have it waiting for me in the garage!" The one eyed man smiled evilly. "For tonight, I will see to it personally that the Queen family line comes to an end!"

**AN: As you can see, I posted two chapters instead of one this time, because I though all of the story elements in these two chapters just sort of went together, but this particular story arch was taking up too many pages for just one chapter. So, I hope none of you mind that I split up what was supposed to be one chapter into two.**

**So tell me, what did you think of my story and the tragic ending of Olibel? I know it was pretty rotten of me to end the story on a cliffhanger like this, but…**

**Yes, I'm joking. Please don't kill me. The story is far from over, but as you can see, Olibel will have several major bumps in the road before they can have their happily ever after, not the least of which come from Slade threat to Oliver's family, and Moira's disapproval of Isabel, and of course, Isabel being dead.**

**So readers, please let me know what you think! I am anxious for your input and I am very grateful for all the reviews and PM's I have already received from you for this story. **

**And again, a big thank you goes out to my beta reader, who is probably more than a little ticked off that I keep making her read these chapters when they seem to just keep getting longer. Your help is greatly appreciated!**

**-supercode**


	10. Unmasked

…Some time later…

Roy and Sara. Clad in their red hoodie and vigilante costume, respectfully, stared up at the 30th story of Slade's HQ from outside on the top of a nearby building, while John Diggle was silently doing reconnaissance on Slade HQ with a pair of binoculars. Although Diggle kept his thoughts about the wisdom of this mission to himself, focusing instead on doing recon, both Roy and Sara thinking the same thing, which Roy finally voiced: "How the hell are we supposed to get all the way up there?!" Roy rolled his eyes and added. "And why are we doing this again?"

Sara sighed, but decided to answer Roy's first question, as annoying and pointless as it was. "We already went over this. You were going to jump up to the 30th floor, shattering the window, and then I'm going to use my cable gun to pull myself up there and use my sonic weapon, which I refuse to call the 'Canary Cry' to immobilize any opponents we have up there, grab Isabel, if she is still alive, and get the hell out of there as fast as we can!"

Roy rolled his eyes. "I know that, but this plan doesn't seem to be that smart, and even with my strength and healing factor it sounds like it's going to hurt me a lot more than it hurts you. Plus, I still don't understand why we are just taking Felicity's word that…"

The red hoodie clad man stopped talking as his enhanced hearing finally picked up a strange ticking sound coming from the building in front of him, Sara, and Diggle and his eyes widened as he recognized what it was.

Seconds late, the 30th story of Slade's HQ exploded with a loud BOOM!

* * *

><p>Back at the Lair…<p>

"Guys?! Roy, Sara, Diggle? What was that noise!? Are you okay?"

Felicity reflexively brought her hand up to her face but just managed not to bite her fingernails as she continued to panic. Just 30 minutes ago, she had stopped by the Lair after she realized she had left her purse at that location. And that action had kicked off a night that had been filled with anxiety for the tech genius when she had noticed a video message of herself that Isabel Rochev had left on one of the computer monitors at Felicity's workstation. At first, the blonde woman had cursed herself for having been careless enough to let Isabel see her username and password when she had logged into her computer this evening while confirming the brunette's account about what she had done to Slade's money. But after the I.T. expert actually started to watch Isabel's video, her anger and annoyance turned to dread.

As cliché as they were, after all, video recordings that started with a person stating, "If you are watching this, that means I am already dead." tended to be anxiety provoking.

And that was why Felicity had immediately tried to call Oliver while still watching Isabel's video message. The female co-CEO's message had, in a nutshell, explained that Isabel had decided to try to kill Slade Wilson alone, because the brunette had known that Deathstroke was planning kill either Moira or Thea Queen next…information she had not revealed before because she was afraid Oliver Queen would try to do something rash again to try to stop Slade when he heard his family members were about to be targeted. Felicity had ignored the rest of the message at first and, in a panic, tried to call Oliver and tell him what was going on. But the blonde billionaire's phone kept going straight to voicemail as Felicity tried to call him multiple times, which made the I.T. expert guess that the man had either turned his phone off or let it run out of juice.

After Felicity's attempts to call Oliver and warn him that Isabel had herself in over her head failed, and the tech expert noticed that Isabel had left her message over an hour ago, the bespectacled woman, in desperation, called Diggle, Roy and Sara to tell them what was going on. As fate would have it, all three of them had happened to be closer to Slade's HQ than the location of Moira's speech tonight. Therefore, knowing Isabel was in immediate danger and hoping Oliver's family was not, Felicity had sent all 3 of Oliver's teammates towards Slade's HQ to launch an impromptu rescue mission for Isabel Rochev.

Despite the fact that nobody really had a plan yet to get Isabel out of Slade's HQ…if she was still alive, anyway, and that Diggle, Roy and Sara didn't even trust Isabel yet, they had reluctantly done as Felicity has asked them to do. After all, the three teammates acknowledged to themselves, they may not trust Miss Rochev, but they did (to varying degrees) trust Oliver Queen and Felicity Smoak, both of whom seemed to trust Isabel for some reason.

And under those circumstances, Diggle, Roy and Sara had headed towards Slade's HQ while Felicity did several things at once. One, she tried and failed to call Moira and Thea Queen, both of whom had turned their phones off for the eldest Queen's speech denouncing whoever had killed Sebastian Blood. Two, Felicity tried to gain access to as much detail about Slade's base as she could with her computer, using the address for that location that Isabel had given her. That, and the overhead satellite image of Slade's base, had yielded a surprisingly small amount of information about the location, and almost none of it was good news.

The building Slade was using as his HQ was almost as impregnable as Isabel had said. The blast doors which guarded the 30th floor, Felicity found out by accessing some records that Slade had "hidden" in his personal computer, which Isabel had given the Executive Assistant the username and password to earlier, were made of the same kind of materials that many governments, including the United States, used to create the blast doors for their bomb shelters. Furthermore, the building itself had a flat smooth surface all the way to the roof that made using a cable gun to climb it nearly impossible, had a top notch private security team that guarded the lives and secrets of the many wealthy clients that lived in that tower, and there were no nearby buildings that were quite as high as Slade's HQ that Oliver's teammates could easily jump from to reach the 30th floor…although there was one 28 story building nearby. Taking that fact into account, as well as Roy's super strength, and an often reported complaint made by many customers online that the type of "shatterproof" window that Slade was using was slightly weak in the lower right corner, Felicity had come up with the team's current plan to break into Slade's HQ.

Everyone on the team had acknowledged that Felicity's plan had several problems with it, like whether or not Roy would even be able to jump that high and far, and Diggle had insisted on doing some recon first to see if there wasn't a better way to get onto the building's 30th floor. Even so, nobody could come up with a better plan. After all, coming up with battle plans on the fly had always been Oliver Queen's department, and he couldn't be reached at the moment. So the team had reluctantly decided to go along with Felicity's plan to get into Slade's base.

The third thing Felicity had been doing before she heard that dreadful "BOOM!" on her teammates' end of the com line, was playing Isabel's message on a loop on one of the monitors to see if she had missed any important info from it. The message, being less than three minutes in length, had been mostly made up of the information the brunette's confession that she had planned to take out Slade on her own and why she had chosen to do so, but there had also had been 4 personal messages that Isabel had given to Diggle, Sara, Felicity, and Oliver, respectfully. And it was only the knowledge that she had to focus if she wanted to save Isabel that had kept the I.T. expert from tearing up when she heard the last two messages for herself and Oliver. While the messages for Diggle and Sara had been more general, as the brunette asked the two of them to keep watching Oliver's back, and that she was glad she had not ended up shooting Diggle's head off, those last two messages had a little more meaning to them.

Isabel's messages for Felicity had been the longest of the four. "And Felicity…" the brunette had briefly sighed at this point of the message. "I know the two of us have had serious problems getting along in the past, and that has mostly been my fault. For what it's worth, I am sorry about that and I wanted you to know that I really appreciate you trusting me enough to help me save Oliver's life last night. That meant a lot to me, because I know that you love him. I would tell you to keep watching out for Oliver, but we both know that you would do that without my encouragement, anyway. In the meantime, keep pushing yourself to conquer your fears and be a better fighter. Soon you'll find out that you are a lot stronger than you realize you are. And work on that left hook of yours, it has some serious potential."

Isabel's face on the monitor always smiled briefly during that portion of the message before the brunette's face became deadly serious again before she delivered the shortest of the four messages to Oliver Queen. "Oliver, I love you. Please don't forget that. Don't forget that all of this, and everything I'm about to try to accomplish, has been for you. And I'm sorry for…well, you know." It was always that moment that got to Felicity, as the stoic look on Isabel's face after delivering that last portion of the message before the recording ended, which belayed the obvious anguish in the woman's eyes after apologizing to Oliver about something the tech genius had no knowledge of. The knowledge that Isabel had been, not just infatuated, as many a woman had been, but actually in love with, Oliver Queen, and that she had risked everything, and in all probability, just laid down her life, for a man that had been giving her the cold shoulder for the last 12 hours, and had possibly even broken things off with the brunette entirely, filled Felicity with a profound sense of pity and sadness for Isabel, a woman she had pretty much hated until a couple of days ago.

But Felicity wasn't able to focus on how Isabel's messages had affected her emotionally at the moment. The blonde woman was too focused on yelling into her comm-link for Diggle, Roy, or Sara to respond to her messages and tell her what happened, and on worrying about what had happened to Isabel and her friends in the field and whether Oliver and his family were safe to think about the brunet's message, which Felicity finally paused, at this particular moment. And Felicity also couldn't quite keep herself from mentally berating Oliver for not having his phone on as she wondered aloud. "What is going on with you Oliver?"

* * *

><p>Oliver listened to his mother while sitting in the back of a limo with Moira and Thea Queen, after Moira had finished giving her speech to denounce Sebastian Blood's attackers, having no idea that the fact that he had forgotten to charge his now long dead cellphone over the last 24 crazy hours would turn out to be such an important detail as his mom spoke in serious voice to Thea and himself. "Oliver, what you said this morning, about how we need to be more honest with each other, that really struck a chord with me, especially considering that you backed up your words by telling Thea and I about your life as the Arrow. And…" Moira sighed. "I decided I agree with you…we need to turn the page by being more honest with each other from now on."<p>

Thea, who was currently refusing to make eye contact with her mother and brother, both of whom she was obviously mad at right now, scoffed. "Easier said than done. And you should speak for yourself. I haven't been keeping anything from this family lately, and Oliver…well, I'm still really pissed off at him for keeping all these secrets about you, me, and Roy this long, but I can appreciate that at least he decided to start coming clean with us of his own free will this morning." Thea smiled for just a second in Oliver's direction as her brother nodded back, thankful that his sister was at least talking to him now, before she turned back to her mom. "You are the only one of us who is still keeping secrets. Who is still lying?"

The blonde woman nodded. "You are right. I have been dishonest with both of you. If telling the truth were easy for me, the three of us wouldn't be having so many problems being a family right now. But I think I know a good place that I can start to change that. And with that in mind…there is something that both of you need to know about Malcolm Merlyn…"

Moira's words were, unfortunately, interrupted when another vehicle slammed into the Queen's limo. At the time, nobody noticed that the impact, which had occurred towards the front of the limo on the driver's side door, had, sadly, killed the Queen's limo driver. However, Oliver Queen would look on this, and many other moments, with regret later as he reflected that Mark Bartowski, the man who had been his family's driver for over 30 years, was just one more person that was dead because of his actions on the island. But at the present moments, Oliver Queen wasn't awake enough to reflect on any of this while his world went black.

* * *

><p>"Oliver, Oliver!"<p>

Oliver Queen came to several minutes later in a secluded, woodsy area on the side of the road that lead to his family's mansion to the sight of his mother and sister, bound with ropes on their wrists and ankles, crying over his similarly bound form…with Slade Wilson standing over all 3 of them with an evil smile on his face as he spoke. "Welcome back to the land of the living, Oliver Queen!" Slade's face then morphed into a dark frown as he spoke in a threating tone. "Don't get comfortable here."

Oliver shook his head. "Slade, I don't know what your game is here…."

"This is no game!" Deathstroke barked. "This is life and death, and now you and your family will pay for…"

"For what Oliver did on the island, right?!" Everyone stared at the youngest Queen as she sniffed back her remaining tears and tried her best to look defiant as she stared right at Slade's only remaining eye. "Yeah, he told us already. He saved Sara Lance, his friend, his girlfriend's sister, instead of some other woman you were in love with. And because of that, you want to kill my brother. You are a psychopath!"

Slade smiled grimly at Thea, while Moira struggled uselessly against her bonds. "You are a lot braver than you were last time we met, Thea. That is admirable…and unexpected, coming from the sibling of a coward."

Moira huffed. "My son is not a coward!"

"Silence!" Deathstroke turned towards Oliver. "I see you have ruined my initial plan for this moment, Oliver. You were supposed to have been secretive and paranoid, like usual, and I would sow the seeds of distrust this planted in your family by revealing to them what you have done. What you really are. Instead you decided to be honest with them for once and tell them what you had done. Bravo." Slade clapped mockingly in the blonde man's direction, then smiled. "But you still didn't tell them the other half of what you did to me, did you? The other reason I have to punish your family."

Oliver shook his head, the confusion that he now felt concerning what Slade had just said evident in his eyes. "I don't know what you're talking about, Slade. And I don't really care. If you think I deserve to be punished, that I deserve to die, then punish me! Kill me!"

Slade shook his head. "I am killing you, Oliver. Only a lot slower than you would like." Slade looked Oliver closely in the eyes, noticing the confusion in the younger man's face, and laughed darkly. "You really don't know what I am talking about do you, Oliver? Well, let me enlighten you. You have now taken two women I loved away from me. And that is why I am going to kill both your mother and your sister tonight!"

Oliver shook his head in confusion as tears fell down his face. "I don't know what you are talking about…I only failed to save Shado! I didn't take anyone else away from you! Let my family go!"

Slade shook his head again and elaborated on his words. "No. You took Shado, and my precious Ravager, away from me, now I'm going to take your family away from you!"

Oliver's incredulous expression revealed that he still had no idea what Slade was talking about, so the one-eyed man added. "Or, you may know my sweet Ravager by her old name: Isabel Rochev."

Oliver Queen's eyes widened for a second, exhibiting his recognition of whom Deathstroke was talking about now as he thought. 'He knows. How does he know that Isabel is the traitor in his organization?! It doesn't matter, I can't let Slade know he's right! I will deny I know anything, get out of my bonds, save my family, and warn Isabel about what Slade knows…I just don't know how yet.' But what Oliver said was "Isabel? What does she have to do with any of this?"

But Slade wasn't fooled. "Don't try to lie to me, Oliver Queen! I know you far too well for that to work on me. You know that Isabel was the traitor to my organization! That the woman who I had thought of as a daughter, who had been my best student, fell for you and turned against me!"

Thea shook her head in apparent confusion and Moira's eyes widened in apparent understanding about what Isabel had really been up to all these months, while Oliver did his best to remain stone faced while he said "I still don't know what you are talking about."

Slade's eye rolled. "You can stop that right now, Oliver. It's no good protecting Isabel now, is it?!"

Seeing the look of confusion now again present in Oliver's eyes, Slade laughed darkly. "Oh, you mean you don't know yet? Isabel Rochev is dead. You made me kill her not two hours ago."

The mask slid off Oliver's face as an upset expression placed itself on his features as he shook his head in denial of Slade's words as he shouted. "No. You are lying!"

A look of pure rage appeared on Slade's face. "Does it look like I'm lying?! You turned a woman who was like a daughter to me against me by making her fall in love with you! Then, to add insult to injury, you spurn her, cast her aside like some casual plaything, and still…and still…she choose you over me! She even tried to kill me on her own to prove her loyalty to you!" A look of pure horror crossed Oliver's features and tears were now rolling freely down his face as Slade continued. "I even tried to give her a chance to rejoin my righteous cause, and she literally spat in my face…" Deathstroke pointed to his only working eye. "Right here. She gave me no choice but to kill her. But rest assured, I know the true fault is yours, not hers. You poisoned Isabel, a woman who loved you, but who meant nothing to you, against me, and forced me to kill her! She is dead because of you!"

And that was the moment that Oliver Queen lost it, and he didn't even care who saw it when his he began openly sobbing while Moira and Thea looked at their relative with a mixture of horror, sympathy, and (in Thea's case) confusion as they were evidentially realizing just how much the apparently late Isabel Rochev, the woman who had tried to take over their family's company only months ago, who had had an…interesting history with the Queen family, had meant to Oliver Queen. Slade, with a smiling look of triumph now upon his own face, seemed to have come to the same conclusion as he stated. "Well, I guess I was wrong. You did love my Ravager after all. I suppose it is only fitting that you two lovers should join each other in death on the very same night!"

Oliver, tears still in his eyes, stared defiantly into Slade's eyes as he ineffectively attempted to break out of his bonds while rolling towards Slade as a look of pure rage crossed the blonde man's features. "I am going to kill you. Slade! I am going to kill you, and it's going to be slow, and it is going to be more painful than you can imagine! And you are going to wish that the arrow I had put in your eye had done you in by the time this night is over!"

Slade laughed at Oliver's threats and kicked the younger man back towards his original position while Thea screamed and Moira sobbed as the one-eyed man spoke. "I think not, old friend. But…" The dark haired man lowered himself to the ground and stared into Oliver's eyes, saw what he was looking for, and smiled grimly. "I do like that look in your eyes right now. The anger, rage, and hatred you feel towards me right now for having taking someone you loved away from you. The despair you feel now that she is gone. Yes…" Slade nodded. "You finally know how I felt five years ago after you let my beloved Shado die. You finally know true despair."

Trying to grab ahold of Slade's words, and knowing he was powerless to kill the one-eyed man or defend himself, Oliver nodded. "Yes. I know true despair now. You don't need to do anything else to my family for me to feel that. Killing Isabel was enough. You're right, I do love her…." Trying to sell this to Slade and tell his mother the truth at the same time, Oliver turned towards a still wide eyed and obviously shocked Moira Queen while he spoke. "I fell in love with her…even though I shouldn't have. And I still love her, even though I shouldn't…" Oliver turned back to Slade. "But I turned her away, because I thought it was the right thing to do. She died for me without knowing how much I loved her. Because of my words, my actions…" Oliver's features grew cold as he continued to stare at Slade, and Thea gave her brother a look that was mixed between pity and confusion as she tried to figure out just why Oliver was saying all this about Isabel, and why he was directing some of his words towards their mother. "And yours. So, yes, for that I hate you…and myself. And I am in complete despair. So please just kill me now and end my suffering! But leave my family alone!"

Slade grinned widely at Oliver's words in a way that reminded him of the smile of a child on Christmas morning…a twisted, evil child. "Good. That is all that I wanted to hear. I have killed the woman you loved…not the woman I thought it would be…and not when I had originally planned to…but still, the woman you loved, and now you know complete despair. Now, finally, I can grant your death wish. And…" Slade put away the gun he had been carrying in his hand and pulled out a sword out his coat instead as he looked meaningfully at Oliver Queen. "For your newfound courage, which you exhibited tonight as you tried, however pathetically, to defend your family, I will even let you die with honor." Oliver sighed with relief, grateful that his death would insure the safety of his family, until Slade finished his thought while turning towards an obviously shocked Moira and a sobbing Thea. "Right after I kill either your mother or your sister!"

Slade ignored Oliver's cries of anguish and Thea's continuing sobbing, and everyone was so transfixed on the situation in front of them that neither neither Slade, nor anybody else, noticed the sound of a car passing close by their position on the nearby road, or heard it come to a stop, as he added. "For as I told you, there are two women I must avenge tonight, and I must kill two people in your family to balance the scales. Oliver Queen is my first volunteer. Will one of you be the second?" Deathstroke alternated pointing his sword between Moira and Thea Queen as he sneered. "Or will I have to draft one of you for this duty?"

Moira Queen shook her head and stared at Slade defiantly. "No! Please kill me! Only me! Leave my children out of this!"

Slade shook his head sadly. "You and your son both speak with such passion. Such conviction and willingness to sacrifice yourselves. I am deeply moved by your words and I am almost moved to listen to your pleas and only kill one of you…" Slade stopped talking for several seconds and looked towards a vacant space behind him, before turning back towards Moira Queen and scowling. "But as I said, two lives need to be avenged tonight." Obviously not listening to Oliver or Moira's cries of protest or that Thea, obviously registering that she was probably going to an orphan with no living relatives very soon, was sobbing even harder now, Slade finished speaking as he looked at Moira. "I see now that your children received their newfound courage from you. It's a shame that your son learned from your fine example too late to save my beloved Shado and help you avoid this fate. Still…"

Slade pointed his sword towards Moira and started advancing towards her person as he spoke to the woman. "To spare your poor mother's heart the pain of seeing your son die, I will kill you first…"

Before Slade could swing his sword at Moira Queen however, he was stopped by a familiar voice as a woman in a black and red costume and tight fitting red mask stepped out from behind some bushes while holding a double barreled shot gun, which she had acquired from Slade's own armory, in her hands, pointed right at Slade's head, and said. "Put your sword down Slade! Nobody in the Queen family is going to die tonight!"

* * *

><p>Slade turned towards the source of the voice and smiled, an act which just served to piss off the person wearing the rubbery mask as she added with a smirk. "I thought you might try to ambush the Queens on this road after Moira's speech, and I saw your car in the bushes. By the way, I set up a makeshift bomb on long fuse at your HQ after you and your goons abandoned it. It should be blown to bits right now." The masked woman waived her gun at Slade again. "And I'm serious, Slade! Drop the sword! If you don't, I will drop you. This gun should have enough power to blow your head off in one shot. Most of it anyway. But I wouldn't mind shooting you a few more times in the head if I need to."<p>

Slade laughed in amusement, but dropped his sword anyway, while the Queens on the ground all looked at each other in confusion, but there also seemed to be glint of a mixture of hope and recognition in Oliver's eyes when he looked at the masked stranger that almost, if not quite, made the mystery woman smile while Slade spoke. "Well, I certainly didn't think I would be seeing you again. I will give you that. Not after I stabbed you in the heart."

The masked woman shrugged. "You missed. It was just a flesh wound. I'll have a nasty scar to show for it, but otherwise, I will be fine."

The one-eyed man shook his head. "I never miss with my sword. Plus, I could have sworn that your pulse was gone And that was a lot of blood for a flesh wound, wasn't it…Isabel?"

The masked woman scowled at her mentor, but pulled her mask off with her left hand, with her shotgun still in the firm grip of her right hand, revealing the face of Isabel Rochev, Oliver gave the brunette a smile, although Isabel noted that there was a hint of worry in the look for some reason. Moira Queen gasped in surprise with an expression on her face that indicated that she was clearly thinking: "What. The. Fuck." and Thea's eyes widened in disbelief at the revelation that her brother's old business rival and apparently, lover was alive and trying to rescue his family while Isabel shrugged. "Fine. Expose my identity. It doesn't matter. I hated that mask anyway. It looks terrible on my face."

Slade sneered. "I made you that mask…"

"I know." Isabel smirked. "And you did a terrible job. Good thing I made the costume myself. By the way, you threatened Oliver Queen, the man I love, and his family. And on top of that, you tried to kill me…"

"I did kill you," Slade scowled. "Your heart stopped. You had no pulse. But you must have had more Mirakuru in your system then I thought, and when your heart stopped, your healing factor must have kicked into overdrive, bringing you back to life, and driving the Mirakuru deeper into your bloodstream. A similar thing happened to me on the Island."

"It doesn't matter!" Isabel snapped at Slade with a voice full of rage. "The point is, you tried to kill me, and now I'm going to kill you!"

Slade held up his hands in surrender. "You would kill an unarmed man? I thought I taught you more honor than that, Ravager. Besides, the Mirakuru must be a permanent part of your system now. Can't you feel that rage inside you again? Isn't there someone else you really want to kill?" Slade pointed towards Moira Queen with an obviously desperate look on his face while the Queen family looked at the spectacle occurring between teacher and student with a mixture of anticipation and dread as the one-eyed man added. "You've never killed before. Not directly. If you must kill, let it be someone you really hate. How many times have you told me how much you hated Moira for siring a bastard child right under your beloved Robert's nose?! You hate Moira Queen!"

'No.' Isabel heard a voice behind her say. 'She's not the one you want to kill.' Echoing the voice's words, Isabel spoke. "No. She's not the one I want to kill. You tried to kill me, Slade! And you are trying to kill Oliver's family and take him away from me now."

An apparition of the Hood, Oliver's old vigilante alter ego, complete with a green costume, hood, and black eye paint, that only Isabel could see, stepped out of the shadows and spoke. "You are going to kill him now.'

Isabel sneered at Slade and put her finger on the trigger. "I am going to kill you now!"

The real Oliver Queen, apparently seeing the murderous rage in the brunette's eyes, spoke in a concerned voice as he continued attempting to get free from his bonds, as he had been doing for the past several minutes. "No, Isabel. You don't want to do this! You don't know what it's like! What killing will do to your soul. Just immobilize Slade so that we can capture him and get us out of here!"

"No, kill Deathstroke! Kill Slade Wilson!" "The Hood" barked out a command and Isabel suddenly found herself caught between her hatred for Slade, and her compulsion to follow "The Hood's commands" and her love for Oliver Queen as she tried to decide what to do.

Sensing her moment of hesitation, Slade attempted to exploit Isabel's confusing by pulling out his own handgun before Isabel noticed what he was doing. But a quick shout from Moira Queen to "Look out!" snapped Isabel back to reality in time for her to shoot Slade, who was, apparently, not wearing body armor at the time, in the torso first. This knocked the man to the ground and temporarily immobilized him.

Isabel started walking towards Slade's body, shotgun still in hand, before she heard the sound of a car approaching close by on the not often traveled road. The brunette worried that it could be some of Slade's men, and apparently Oliver was thinking the same thing, because the man, now finally free from his bonds, turned towards Isabel and shouted. "Those could be Slade's men! We need to get out of here! I'll free Thea, you get my mom out her bonds, and we'll get away in whatever vehicle you took to get here!"

Apparently sensing Isabel's hesitation as the brunette looked down at Slade's body at her feet with a contemplative look, Moira added. "Listen to my son, Isabel! You already got one good shot in, if you shoot him again, you could lead some of Slade's men right to us! Please, help me and my children get out of this alive by doing what Oliver said!"

Seeing the imploring, desperate look in both Oliver and Moira's eyes. Isabel reluctantly nodded, put down her shotgun, and freed Moira Queen from her bonds while Oliver did the same for his sister. Then, after Isabel had showed Oliver the out of the way place she had parked her vehicle, she picked her gun back up, and she and the Queen family piled into her car. Isabel sped off in the direction of the Verdant, just avoiding being detected by whomever was in car that approached the brunette's former parking spot seconds later, until Oliver shook his head and smiled. "Thank you for saving my family, Miss Rochev! And for saving my life. Again. I'm really glad you are alive, but we aren't going to the Lair tonight."

When Isabel looked at Oliver, with her confusion at his words evident on her face, Oliver Queen clarified. "I have another hideout that I was thinking of taking us to instead. But first, I better contact Felicity and let her know what just happened."

Isabel just nodded as she drove, while taking a quick, worried look towards the back seat, where Moira and Thea, still visibly calming down after their ordeal, although Moira at least nodded in acknowledgment of Isabel, were seated, before Isabel turned back towards the road. At that moment, Isabel thought something about Moira Queen that, coincidentally, the Queen matriarch was presently thinking about her own person: "There will be no living with her after this!"

* * *

><p>The next hour was a flurry of activity. Oliver used his mother's cellphone (after putting it on speaker) to call Felicity (who was, predictably, pissed at Oliver for getting himself in yet another situation she couldn't contact him), and telling the I.T. girl that Slade Wilson had just tried and failed to kill him and his family after his mother's speech. After the blonde haired man calmed an anxious Felicity, who took steps to make sure their call couldn't be monitored by Slade, down by assuring her that everyone was okay now, Felicity gave a status update of her own, while Thea and Moira, who were still in shock due to recent events, simply listened silently.<p>

The I.T. expert explained in a somber voice that she had been informed that Isabel Rochev had gone after Slade Wilson alone in order to stop the one-eyed man from hurting Moira or Thea (a bit of news which made all three Queens stare at Miss Rochev in astonishment). The tech genius sadly added that she, Diggle, Roy, and Sara had tried to launch a rescue operation after she had convinced the other members of Oliver's team to do so. Ironically, none of the others trusted Isabel as much as Felicity, who realized just what the brunette had risked to help her team, and who genuinely believed, based upon the moment she had accidentally witnessed between Isabel and Oliver last night, and the brunette's video message, that Isabel had feelings for Oliver, did.

Even so, the team still went along with the rescue operation because they trusted Felicity. Unfortunately, the Executive Assistant added quietly, the rescue operation had been a failure, since Slade HQ had exploded like a fireball before the field team could even get aside it, and only Roy's superior hearing had even been able to warn him in time to tell the others to hit the deck so they didn't get hit by the debris from the blast which had temporarily knocked out the team's comm-links.

Felicity sighed. "Oliver, I'm so sorry. The team searched the debris afterward…there was no sign of a body, but there was a large puddle of blood in the middle of Slade's office. I think Isabel may be…"

Isabel, who had been silently listening the conversation, and who was still driving to the location that Oliver just told her about, smirked. "Right here."

There was a long pause on the other end of the line before Felicity started anxiously rambling. "Isabel?! You're alive? I mean, obviously you're alive. Otherwise we couldn't be talking right now. But how? And how did you get to Oliver so fast? And…"

Isabel's smile grew wider. "Calm down, Felicity. Breathe. Remember what I said before about letting your emotions control you? Anyway, it's a long story. I'll tell you all about it later. Suffice it to say I was able to get away and save Oliver's skin again, and help his family in the process. Oh, and I rigged that bomb to destroy Slade's base. Tell the others I'm sorry I almost got them blown up. I didn't know you would be getting my message…" everyone listening to the conversation noticed the nervous tone in Isabel's voice as she spoke this sentence, but nobody knew what to think about that fact, so they said nothing as the brunette finished. "…so quickly. Or that you would actually try to launch a rescue operation. Thanks. I guess."

Felicity's tone was serious now. "No problem. We may not have gotten along that well in the past, but you've risked a lot to help our team, and as far as I'm concerned, you're one of us now. And team Arrow looks after its own." Oliver didn't even bother to correct Felicity's name for his team before the I.T. girl finished speaking. "Well, that ends the good news part of this conversation. I just found out that some unidentified individuals, and I'm guessing they were Slade's men, just stole an item from a warehouse belonging to Star labs. Oliver, they took a blood transfusion device designed to allow one person to give blood to a large number of individuals. I'm guessing that Slade plans to use it to make a Mirakuru fueled army."

Isabel shook her head, but kept driving. "I'm certain you're right. This kind of thing sounds like Slade's M.O. Multitasking, planning ahead, moves and countermoves. But Deathstroke doesn't have enough men to make any army to destroy Starling City with, which he told me he planned to do, even if he does give them Mirakuru. Where is he going to get that many killers who are willing to take part in such a destructive act on short notice?"

Everyone was silent for a moment before Oliver Queen shook his head and spoke. "Iron Heights prison. Slade's going to try to finish what he started last night and build an army of prison inmates."

Isabel nodded. "That makes sense. But with the limited number of men Slade has right now, he won't try to do that in broad daylight. Especially when, as far as I could tell, only three of his soldiers have Mirakuru in their system right now. Plus, I just blew up Slade's HQ and stole a bunch of his weaponry. So, Slade's going to need to, at the very least, give Mirakuru to his remaining soldiers who don't have it in their systems, and procure some more weapons after finding a place to lay low for the next 24 hours or so. I predict the earliest he will attack the prison will be tomorrow night. We should all lie low and rest until then."

Oliver nodded. He didn't like all the assumptions and guesses that he and his teammates were having to make about what Slade was going to do next, but they didn't really have a lot else to go on right now. "Okay then. So here's my plan. Felicity, I'm going to text you the location of the secondary Lair location, a former ARGUS facility I bought with my trust fund when I started being the Hood, and you and the team will bring yourselves all the food, equipment and weaponry you can carry to that location. I don't know how much Slade knows about us, and he may know about the Foundry, since it's connected to Queen Consolidated."

When Oliver looked at Isabel, silently questioning Isabel if Slade knew about the Lair, the brunette shrugged, displaying her ignorance about this subject, and the blonde man continued speaking. "So that location may be compromised. But I really don't think Slade knows about the other Lair. In the meantime, Isabel will text you the locations of all of Slade's old hideouts in Starling City."

Isabel silently nodded to confirm Oliver's words as she pulled her black sports car in front of an old garage connected to the former ARGUS base and the blonde billionaire kept talking "You can work your techno-magic to see if your can find Slade, or any of his men at those locations. Then we are all going to lie low at the new Lair overnight. There a bunch of old military cots and sleeping bags we can all crash on. I'm not going to take more chances on Slade catching any of us unawares. Tomorrow night, 'the Arrow' will make an anonymous tip that Slade is on the other side of town to get the cops, who will do nothing against Mirakuru soldiers, out of the way. If we're right, and Slade shows up at the prison tomorrow, you can lock down the prison remotely, right? That would slow Slade down, and keep any prison guards or inmates from getting caught in the crossfire."

Oliver could almost hear Felicity roll her eyes as she replied to Oliver (who had turned the phone off speaker) in an annoyed tone of voice while the blonde man, his family and Isabel entered the secondary Lair. "I'll try. What I do is hardly magic, Oliver. I'm just really good at manipulating code. And I'm not a miracle worker, but I'll do my best to do everything you just asked me to. See you soon."

* * *

><p>Half an hour after Oliver's phone conversation with Felicity, the tech genius, Diggle, Roy, and Sara entered the new Lair, where Isabel and the Queens were waiting for them. The two groups then exchanged enthusiastic greetings, including a warm handshake from Diggle to Oliver and a running hug that Thea ambushed Roy with, right as the young man walked through the door. Felicity, forgetting herself for a moment, almost hugged Oliver as well, but when the bespectacled woman received a glare from Isabel just as the I.T. girl opened her arms in Oliver's direction while saying how glad she was Oliver was alive, Felicity awkwardly changed the gesture into patting both of the Arrow's shoulders for a moment. This gesture earned an amused grin from Oliver as he said, "Nice to see you too.", and a smirk from Isabel that all but said "That's better."<p>

After greetings were exchanged, while everyone was hauling in all the stuff that the tech genius's group had brought here from the old Lair, Felicity told everyone she had been unable to find the present location of Slade or his men anywhere, including Deathstroke's old hideouts that Isabel had given her the addresses of. So it was then decided, after Oliver told everybody where the two dormitory sections and the sleeping bags, as well as the military style bathrooms, were located, that everybody should turn in for the night within the hour. The emerald archer then arbitrarily labeled one dormitory section as the men's dorm, and the other's as the women's, after he saw Roy make a sideways glance towards Thea that he didn't like the look of. Judging from the scared look that Roy gave to Oliver after the blonde man glared pointedly at Roy as he designated the two sleeping areas, the red hooded man got the message.

At that point, everyone in the new Lair broke into groups and began talking to each other. Diggle and Sara gathered in one group and started discussing their strategy for taking down Slade tomorrow, after Isabel had quickly taken Felicity aside and told her to erase the video message to the group so that no one would think she had gone soft or lost her edge. At the same time, Oliver began talking to his mother, who was still pretty distraught from everything that was happening, although Oliver would shoot Isabel the occasional said smile or worried glance over his mother's shoulder. Thea and Roy, on the other hand, were alternating between arguing with and hugging each other.

Isabel, for the most past, stuck to her own company, and, after exploring the mostly vacant ARGUS base, succeeded in finding what was left of the facility's kitchens, which didn't have any food in it except the little that Felicity had brought from the last Lair. However, the facility still had running water since Oliver had started paying the water bill for the place a couple of years ago. Isabel then proceeded to find a large water bottle in one of the only shelves that Oliver had bothered to fill and filled it with cold water. The brunette also grabbed a random sandwich from Felicity's still unpacked bag of supplies before she returned to the common area where the others were talking, and quickly took a large swig of water while thinking: 'Damn. That is the best water I have ever tasted!' Miss Rochev had similar thoughts about the turkey sandwich she then proceeded to take a bite from as she silently reflected that almost bleeding out could certainly make a woman hungry and thirsty, even if one did possess a Mirakuru boosted healing ability.

Isabel quickly ate the rest of the sandwich, and she was still working on finishing her large bottle of water while leaning against one of the common rooms walls when something unexpected happened. Moira Queen, who had evidentially finished talking with Oliver for the moment, walked toward the wall that Isabel was leaning against. The middle aged woman then leaned against the same wall several feet to the red and black clad vigilante's right, and, with a pointed look towards Isabel, spoke to the brunette. "Isabel."

The hazel-eyed woman noted that Moira's tone, while serious, lacked the icy edge that the Queen matriarch usually put in her voice when she addressed her person, nodded and responded to Moira in a similarly serious tone of voice, while trying to hide how nervous this unexpected social interaction with Oliver's mother was making her. "Moira."

The middle aged blonde woman sighed. "I think you and I need to have a little talk."

**AN: So, that's the most recent chapter! I hope all of you enjoyed it! I also hope none of you minded that I let Moira Queen live in my story, but, as you can see, I still have some major plans for Oliver's mother for the rest of this story. In particular, I believe that all of you will find Moira's interactions with Isabel and Oliver in the next chapter very interesting. Also, yes, I know I took some liberties with the new Arrow Cave, but I guess I just wanted to make Team Arrow's new Lair just a little bit more interesting and well equipped than it was on the show. I hope you liked my version of that place.**

** Once again, thanks go out to all my readers! You are the ones who keep inspiring me to post new chapters of this fic! Please leave me a review or PM to let me know what you thought of this chapter! And an even bigger thank you goes out to my beta reader, who keeps my chapters from beckoning uglier than a jigsaw puzzle with several pieces missing. Your help is greatly appreciated!**

**-supercode**


	11. The Calm Before the Storm: Part 1

Responding to Moira Queen's last sentence. "I think you and I need to have a little talk", Isabel nodded and tilted her head towards the new Lair's kitchen and began walking in that direction, away from the other people in the common room. Moira got the message and followed Isabel to the facility's kitchen. Oliver, who was now talking to Thea, looked on in evident concern about what Isabel and his mother were going to talk about but stayed in the common room.

Soon after the two women arrived in the middle of the kitchen, Isabel, thinking she knew what Moira wanted to talk about, turned around and confronted the older woman with an angry look on her face and an edge to her voice that was only slightly tempered by the low volume of her speech. "If this is about you telling me to stay away from your son, you're wasting your breath, Moira! Oliver told me you told him about me and Robert, and your son tried to end things between the two of us, but I'm not going to let…"

Moira, with a nonplussed look on her face, interrupted the brunette with a raised eyebrow. "That's not what I wanted to talk to you about, actually. We both know you wouldn't listen to me if I asked you to stay away from Oliver, anyway."

Isabel visibly calmed down and nodded. "No. I wouldn't. So what is it you wanted to talk to me about?"

Moira sighed. "A couple things, actually. One, I wanted to thank you for saving me and Oliver's lives tonight... And from what my son said earlier, that wasn't the first time you rescued him."

Isabel shook her head. "You don't have to thank me for any of those things. I didn't do them for you."

Moira smirked. "No. You did those things, and risked your life to turn against Slade Wilson, because you think you are in love with my son."

Isabel's eyes lit up like a flame in anger as she spoke louder than last time, but still soft enough that her voice didn't leave the room. "I am in love with Oliver! I know that fact makes you uncomfortable, and believe me, it freaked me out too when I started developing feelings for your son, but that's what happened!"

Moira shook her head. "I know that's what you believe, Isabel. But Oliver is not his fath…"

Isabel wouldn't even let Moira finish that sentence. "You think I don't know that!? I am well aware that Oliver Queen is not his father, Moira! He's very different than Robert. Oliver is a hero, for one thing! He's noble and selfless! Oliver is his own man and he is special!" 'And better. He didn't exploit my desire to be loved like your husband did.' Isabel mentally added, but decided not to say out loud, for obvious reasons.

Moira smiled. "Yes, my son is very special. Good. I just wanted to make sure you recognized that, and you weren't just projecting your feelings for Robert on my son. Or just falling for the infamous Queen charm again."

Isabel blinked, but there was still an anger on her face. "So, you were just testing me?!"

Moira shrugged. "Pretty much. A mother can never be too careful when she is looking out for her children, especially when one of them begins spending time with someone with your…unique history with our family." Isabel just nodded at that while the Queen matriarch kept speaking. "In any case, even though you didn't do it for me, I appreciate that you have been looking out for my son, and for saving my life tonight. Thanks to you, not only is my son alive, my children also still have a mother. Thank you."

Isabel sighed. She knew that it must have been difficult for Moira to say that to her of all people, and from the pointed look on the mother's face, the brunette knew that the older woman had only thanked her because she felt obligated to do so and was expecting some kind of response. So Isabel reluctantly responded. "You're welcome."

Seeing that Moira was about to turn away and, apparently, go back towards the common room, Isabel gulped and reluctantly started a conversation which she knew the Queen matriarch was too proud to start on her own. "So where does that leave the two of us? Are we supposed to just go back to hating and avoiding each other? Because given our present set of circumstances, I think that may be a little difficult. And awkward. Furthermore, if you think I'm going to stop going after Oliver…"

Moira Queen turned around and sighed, but the relieved look on the older woman's face gave away that she was glad that Isabel had started this conversation so that she wouldn't have to. "No. I don't think there will be any going back to the way things were after tonight. You saved the lives of both myself and my son. I don't think I can hate you after that, as much as I may want to. But that doesn't mean I like you now, either. In fact, I still intensely dislike you. And I won't ever forget the affair you had with Robert, either."

Isabel shrugged. "I wouldn't expect you to forget something like that." The brunette briefly thought about apologizing for her actions in the past, and how they had negatively impacted the Queen family and Moira's marriage, but she decided against it. 'There are some things that you just can't apologize for.'

However, when Moira Queen's eyes widened, Isabel realized that she had, without intending to, spoken that last thought out loud, and the brunette briefly worried that she may have lost the ability to have an internal monologue, and wondered if that was a side effect of the Mirakuru.

Moira Queen's words interrupted Isabel's musings after the older woman spoke. "I'm not sure you are referring to what I think you are but…Damn. I certainly wish that my son had thought to store some alcohol here. This is the kind of conversation we really shouldn't have without lots of wine, but…That is exactly what I thought Miss Rochev, after Malcolm Merlyn's Undertaking, which I helped him set up, killed 503 people. That there are some things I just couldn't apologize for. But then I had nightmares about the disaster I helped create for weeks afterward while I was in prison. And the only way I was able to keep some modicum of sanity was by writing letters to the families of every single one of Malcolm's victims, apologizing for my part in the Undertaking."

Moira paced around the room for a few seconds, then added. "After I was released from prison, I sent money from my own bank account to all of those families so that they would not suffer financially from the loss of their loved ones. Most of my letters were returned unopened, and some of the families responded by sending me hate mail, or even death threats, and very few of them would accept money from me. And I understood why…I understood that all the money, all the apologies in the world would never bring those families' loved ones back, or take away the pain those families experienced because of those deaths. But… It was still important that I made the gesture. That I tried to, if not completely make amends for, at least take responsibility for what I had done and show I was sorry."

Moira looked meaningfully at Isabel. "So while I agree that there are times when apologizing for a wrong isn't enough…not **nearly** enough, I disagree with what you just said. Apologizing is never pointless if you are truly sorry for what you have done."

Isabel nodded silently and hesitated for several seconds, so long that Moira thought the conversation was over, and the older woman had started to leave the room, before the brunette finally added. "Then I'm sorry. I'm sorry for having plotted against your family with Slade before I turned against him. I'm sorry for trying to take over your family's company before and…"the hazel-eyed woman took a deep breath and added. "I'm sorry that I hurt you all those years ago, when I had that affair with Robert. That I almost cost you your marriage to the man. I still don't like you very much, but you didn't deserve that. And what Robert and I did back then was wrong. And I know that. And I'm sorry."

Moira just nodded. "Thank you." That was all. Not "I forgive you" or even "I accept your apology", for Isabel guessed that the Queen matriarch wouldn't be able to truly forgive her for her affair with Robert for a long time, if ever. But for the moment, "Thank you" was enough.

Moira frowned for several seconds, said something that sounded suspiciously like "I know I am going to regret this" under her breath, then said out loud. "Isabel, you've proven your devotion to my son on and off the battlefield and it's obvious Oliver has feelings for you too, so…" Moira's face puckered as if she were sucking on a lemon as she spat out. "If Oliver, knowing what he now knows about your history with our family, still decides that he wants to be…"the eldest Queen coughed awkwardly "close with you again, I won't get in the way this time. If that happens, I will respect my son's choice. But if things turn out that way, don't expect me to like it. And don't expect me to start liking you all of the sudden. That, and my trust, are things you would have to earn from me over time. Do you understand?"

Isabel just nodded silently with a serious look on her face, although the brunette was starting to become more hopeful about her romantic prospects with Oliver based upon the elder Queen's words. But that pleasant train of thought was almost derailed when Moira added. "By the way, your prior sins against me notwithstanding: If you break my son's heart, or betray him in any way, I will break you. Oliver has already suffered enough for several lifetimes, and I will not allow you to add to that. Do you understand that as well?"

Isabel was surprised when she felt an irrational surge of intense anger pass through her in reaction to Moira's words, but the brunette shrugged that off as a side effect of the Mirakuru and said "I understand. Thank you. I wouldn't expect any more than that from you, at least not yet. You're right. I can tell Oliver has been through a lot. Plus, he puts the weight of the world on his shoulders every night by trying to be the Arrow. The last thing I want to do is add to his suffering. I am in love with your son, Moira. And I want to help him carry the burden he puts on himself so that he doesn't have to face the world alone."

Moira just shrugged at that and walked out of the kitchen and toward the common room while adding. "Well then. I guess we better get used to seeing each other often, Miss Rochev. Because it doesn't appear either one of us is going anywhere anytime soon. That will certainly make things very interesting for both of us."

Isabel nodded and sighed. "Yes. I suppose it will."

* * *

><p>Several minutes after Isabel and Moira had their conversation, which Oliver had asked his mom about, but Moira Queen had responded by simply saying, "Later", everyone started filling out of the common room one by one. Most of Oliver's teammates and family members got a sleeping bag and cot and went to bed soon after, but Oliver Queen decided to go to the new Lair's training room, one of the few rooms he had bothered to equip so far, for some target practice with his bow and arrows. And it was going horribly.<p>

Oliver sighed as he looked at the results of his marksmanship a minute into his practice session. Of the ten arrows he had let loose in that time, five of them were now partially embedded into the wall around the target, and of the five that actually hit the target, only one of them hit the bull's-eye. Oliver sighed. "Damn. I'm worse than Roy right now."

Oliver shook his head to try to get out the psychological funk he was in, which was keeping him from focusing on hitting his targets but it wasn't helping at all. The truth was, Oliver Queen was currently worried about so many things that it was getting overwhelming. The vigilante was, of course, worried about Slade, and the continuing threat to Starling City and the Queen family the assassin represented. But he was also worried about Roy. Sure, Thea's presence seemed to be calming the young man down now, but Oliver didn't know how long that would last, or whether he was putting his little sister in danger by allowing her to spend time with the unstable, Mirakuru infected young man. Plus, from the look of things earlier in the common room, Thea and Roy were back together as a couple now, and the blonde man had no clue whether that would help or hinder Roy's ability to control his anger. As if that weren't bad enough, Oliver was almost certain now, based upon what Slade Wilson had said earlier tonight, and the feats of speed and strength he had seen the brunette perform recently, that Isabel Rochev was infected with Mirakuru as well.

Oliver mentally cursed himself. 'You seriously have a one track mind, don't you, Ollie!? Why does everything have to go back to Isabel for you!?'

The emerald archer sighed. He didn't really have a concrete answer to that question. All he knew was that he couldn't get the woman with the sad but inviting hazel-eyes off his mind…and he couldn't stop loving her. But, he knew, intellectually, that he shouldn't. For two reasons.

For one thing, Isabel had had an affair with his father several years ago, and if Oliver wanted to be a good son and honor his father, he knew he shouldn't be involved with the same woman now. The thing was, even though his mother had told Oliver what had happened between the brunette and Robert Queen years ago, the blonde billionaire wasn't quite as freaked out, or angry, about that fact as he guessed he should have been. It had taken awhile, but eventually Oliver had figured out that the primary reason for this came down to a failure of his imagination. He simply couldn't picture Isabel and his father having been together. It just seemed…off somehow. Like a sort of cosmic impossibility. And for this reason, even though, intellectually, Oliver knew the affair had happened anyway, he just couldn't bring himself to hold it against Isabel, or be freaked out by that fact, as much as he knew he should have. Of course, Oliver admitted to himself reluctantly, that probably also had something to do with the fact that he had fallen in love with the brunette, but the vigilante quickly pushed that thought aside. He really didn't want to think about that now.

The second reason Oliver knew he shouldn't love Isabel was because of his other family members. His mother had made it very clear that she did not want him to be in a relationship with Isabel. In the past, Oliver wouldn't have cared about that, but now that he was actually trying to be honest with his family and keep them together…he didn't want to jeopardize all of that over a woman, even one that he loved. And Thea was as big a problem. Sure, Robert Queen wasn't her biological father, but the man had raised her, and Oliver was worried he would lose his sister if he reconnected with Isabel and Thea found out about the hazel-eyed woman's prior relationship to the man she had called "father" for most of her life.

For both of these reasons, Oliver had convinced himself that, whatever he might feel for Isabel Rochev, breaking up with her was the right thing to do. So, Oliver had done so. The trouble was that he felt horrible about it now, especially when Isabel looked at him with those beautiful sad eyes of hers and silently asked him to come back to her. And that, feeling bad about undertaking a course of action he was convinced was the right one, was something that Oliver had never experienced before.

Sure, the archer admitted to himself, there had been plenty of times in the past where doing the right thing had been painful, or had taken a lot from him, such as deciding to remain "just friends" with Laurel after Tommy died and his childhood friend and ex-girlfriend said she wanted her space. But in the past, even when it hurt, Oliver had felt good about his course of action when he was doing what he believed was the right thing. Right now, however, that wasn't the case, because he could see that staying away from Isabel wasn't just hurting him, it was hurting her too. And hurting Isabel, who had obviously suffered a great deal of loss already, made Oliver Queen feel like an asshole. Especially after Isabel had almost died for him tonight. Because now he felt like he was just another person in a long line of individuals whom Isabel had loved that had left her, in one way or another. And that did not sit well with Oliver Queen at all. The blonde man simply didn't know what, if anything, he should do about it.

"A million dollars for your thoughts."

Oliver Queen looked over his shoulder at his mother, whom he had heard enter the room behind him seconds ago, and smirked. "Only a million? Are you getting cheap on me now, mom?"

Moira shrugged and smiled. "Well, our trust funds aren't what they used to be before the Undertaking, are they?" The Queen matriarch looked at all of the arrows her son had accidentally embedded in the wall ahead of her, and the lone arrow in the bull's-eye, and turned towards her son with a worried expression on her face. "I'm guessing you are usually a better shot than this, aren't you Oliver?"

Oliver chuckled. "Yeah. Just a little."

The middle aged woman shook her head. "You obviously have a lot on your mind then." Moira Queen sighed. "You've been thinking about Isabel, haven't you? And it seems that whatever your unresolved issues with her are…they are impacting your ability of focus on your combat skills. Considering the battle that's coming soon between you and Slade, that concerns me."

Oliver glared at his mother for just a second, but quickly slid his face into a stoic mask. He knew it was irrational, but part of him was still angry with his mother for, essentially, having forced him to choose between Isabel and his family. Which, Oliver knew, was silly, since Isabel had been the one who had chosen to have an affair with his father years ago. But still…it had been his mother who had chosen to tell him about that only after he had already fallen for the brunette, and who had basically told Oliver to stay away from the hazel eyed woman he had fallen in love with. Even so, deciding he really didn't want to go over any of that terrain with his mom right now, the vigilante just shrugged. "I'm fine. And I don't want to talk about Isabel. Especially not with you." Oliver cursed himself for not quite succeeding in keeping an angry edge out of his voice.

Moira nodded. "I understand why you wouldn't want to talk about her with me…after I told you to stay away from her. But…" Moira put one of her hands on Oliver's shoulder in a gesture of understanding. "I think tonight's events have made it pretty clear that you still have feelings for Miss Rochev, and that she has fallen for you as well..."

Oliver gently shrugged his mother's hand off his shoulder and interrupted Moira's words with an angry tone he didn't even try to cover up this time. "Well, it doesn't really matter how I feel about Isabel, does it!? You made it clear that she is off limits…" Moira opened her mouth to interrupt Oliver, but her son steamrolled right over her and continued. "And I understand why, okay? I know what Isabel did with my father six years ago, and I don't want to dishonor my father's memory or hurt you by starting anything between Isabel and me again. I get it. But that doesn't mean that I have to like it, or that my feelings for Isabel just magically went away. That I don't still care about her. So yes, she has been on my mind a lot lately. Yes, that bothers me. But since there's not a damn thing that I can do about it, can we just not talk about her, please?!"

There was a long moment of deafening silence before Oliver spoke again. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said all of that…"

Moira shook her head. "No. We said we were going to be more honest with each other, and sometimes that means talking about things that make us uncomfortable. So I appreciate your honesty right now, Oliver, even if I don't always like the truth when It's told to me."

Oliver shook his head. "Like I said, I understand why you hate Isabel…

Moira shook her head back. "I don't hate her."

When Oliver stared at his mother with an incredulous expression, the Queen matriarch smiled and admitted. "I used to. But that changed tonight. It's hard to hate someone that has saved your life. And I wouldn't be very good mother if I hated the person who saved my son's life, would I? And it sounds like Miss Rochev has done so on more than one occasion."

Oliver frowned. He couldn't quite see what his mom was getting at, or read her expression, so he had no idea where this conversation about Isabel was going. And that made him nervous. Nevertheless, with as neutral a tone as he could manage, which as it turned out, wasn't all that neutral, the man replied to his mom. "Yes. She saved me from Slade tonight, obviously. And last night, she recued me from my own stupidity when I tried to go after the same man on my own. She had help from the rest of my team, then, but still….yes, she saved my life."

Oliver Queen shook his head out of his revelry when he realized that for a moment there, when he had been talking about Isabel, he had been daydreaming about the night he and the brunette had shared together in Russia again. And not just the sex, although that had been great…but also the conversation that led up to it, when the brunette had intentionally revealed the beautiful, but wounded soul that she hid from the world behind a mask of ice to him for the first time. That had been when he had started falling in love with her in earnest. And even though thinking about that evening made him sad now, his thoughts had been drifting back to that night in Moscow a lot recently. Still Oliver knew he really shouldn't be thinking about that now, and he was so busy worrying about where his thoughts had been a few seconds ago and chasing them away, that he didn't even notice the hint of wistfulness that had entered his voice when he had talked about Isabel saving his life.

Moira, however, noticed Oliver's tone of voice and the sadness in his eyes as he spoke about the brunette, and several seconds later, the eldest Queen sighed. "You really do love her, don't you?" Oliver opened his mouth, but this time it was the mother who wouldn't let the son interrupt. "I'm not asking if you think you should, or for you to tell me whatever it is you think I want to hear. I'm asking you, as a concerned mother, are you actually in love with Isabel Rochev?"

Oliver hesitated for several seconds, then nodded. "Yes." But the man quickly added. "But I understand why nothing can come of what I feel for her. Acting on how I feel would dishonor my father's memory, and hurt you, and who knows what would happen if Thea found out about what Isabel and my father had been up to years ago…"

Moira cut her son off, and with a sour look on her face that made it clear that she wasn't enjoying this one bit, the mother demolished one of her son's arguments. "I know you love your sister, Oliver, and even if she is ticked off at you right now, she knows it too. But Thea has nothing to do with this. She is not your father's biological child, for one thing, and neither you, nor your sister were at fault for what happened between Miss Rochev and your father. And even when all of that was happening, your father never stopped loving either of you…"

Oliver nodded at his mother's words. He knew better than most that they were true, since his father had committed suicide on the lifeboat right after the wreckage of the Queen's Gambit just so that he would have enough supplies to survive until he reached the island. He decided his mother didn't need to know about that, however, as she continued speaking. "This isn't like the secret of Thea's parentage, Oliver. Your father's affair has nothing to do with your sister, so she doesn't need to know about it. You let me worry about Thea."

Oliver just nodded at his mother without speaking. He didn't understand why, exactly his mother was saying all of these things, when she had every reason to dislike Isabel and try to talk him out of his feelings for the brunette, so he decided to let his mom keep speaking so he could find out why she seemed to be doing the opposite of that right now. And pretty soon, Moira resumed talking and placed both her hands on her son's shoulders as she looked at Oliver meaningfully. "And Oliver, your father would be so proud of you…"

The Queen matriarch saw her son shake his head, but she wouldn't hear a word of objection on this front. "And don't even try to argue with me. That's the truth. You have helped so many people since you came back from the Island. You may not have stopped the Undertaking entirely, but that wasn't your fault, and you managed to save most of the people in the Glades, which I am personally very grateful for. You're the reason I don't have even more blood on my hands than I already do. Plus, from what I understand, you have helped many other people in this city as well, and even inspired some of them to be heroes like yourself. You make people, people like Sara, or Roy, or Isabel, and even me, better. I never would have had the courage to reveal my stake in the Undertaking and start the evacuation of the Glades if you hadn't urged me to do that. And even though I ended up going to prison as a result, it was worth it if it even saved one person's life that day."

Oliver just nodded at his mother's words, unable to come up with a rebuttal to them as Moira continued. "You are a good man, Oliver. And I can tell you have given up so much to try to become a hero to this city and a man your father would be proud of. And to that end you gave up on a relationship with Laurel, or a hope for any kind of regular life. You should know that your father would be just as proud of the man you've become as I am. And you honor him every night that you go out there and risks yourself to save others. That being said, I think it's past time that this family stopped living in Robert Queen's shadow and making decisions based upon his memory. That isn't what he would want for you, and that's certainly not what I want. Furthermore, I want you to know that, whether or not you end up being…" Moira coughed "connected with Isabel again, I will still be proud of the man you have become."

Oliver's face took on a confused expression. "I…I don't understand. You were the one who told me to stay away from Isabel in the first place! And it's clear that you at least, intensely dislike her, for completely understandable reasons. So I don't get why you are saying all of this now. Besides, I don't want to do something that would make you so uncomfortable…"

Moira cut her son off with a scoff. "Please. Living in fear for your family's life and being forced to take part in mass murder by a psychopath who happens to be your daughter's biological father was an uncomfortable situation. Prison was uncomfortable. Having to spend more time around Isabel Rochev would be awkward. Sure. But that would be a small price to pay for my son to have some joy in his life again. I understand that now. Better than I did when I pretty much commanded you to stay away from Isabel, anyway. After years of trying to cover for myself, and look after my own interests first by lying and keeping secrets, even while trying to convince myself I was doing so to protect you and Thea, I am trying to put my children first again. And that includes you."

After hesitating for several seconds, the Queen matriarch added while her son continued standing in stunned silence. "You have already given up so much for this city, and for your family, Oliver. I am not going to ask you to sacrifice your heart too. And since it seems pretty clear that Isabel's feelings for you are genuine as well, and she has clearly proven she is loyal to you… All I am saying is that, even though I wouldn't necessarily be happy about it, if you choose to get back together with Isabel…" Moira took a deep breath and spoke in a strained voice that made it very clear to Oliver that it was taking everything his mother had to speak the next sentence. "I won't stand in your way. Just don't expect me to instantly start liking the woman if that happens, okay?"

Oliver just nodded for several seconds. He didn't really know how to process everything his mother had just told him. All he knew was that he was grateful for Moira's words, and that he now felt somehow…lighter than he had for the last 24 hours or so, now that he knew he wouldn't have to choose between his love for Isabel and his love for his family. And Oliver, who didn't really know how to express his gratitude for that, settled on giving his mother an awkward hug before he quickly pulled away and said. "I understand. And thank you."

Moira shook her head. "Don't thank me yet, Oliver. There are still two…fairly big secrets I have been keeping from you for a long time that you need to know about. I'm afraid the first one will have to wait until after you stop Slade though. I don't want it to distract you from doing whatever you need to protect Starling City, or your friends and family. Do you understand?"

Oliver nodded. He didn't really understand why his mom was still keeping secrets from him, in truth. But the blonde man figured that, since his mother had just given him her permission, if not her blessing, to date Isabel again, he owed Moira Queen a little leeway as well.

Moira sighed. "Good. I promise you that I will tell you that secret as soon as you and your friends deal with that one-eyed bastard. But there is something you should know right now. The thing I was going to tell you and Thea in the car tonight and that I will tell your sister at the very first opportunity. Malcolm Merlyn is alive, he found out Thea was his daughter, and he threatened to claim your sister as his own and take her away from us."

Oliver just shook his head and said nothing for several seconds while Moira anxiously awaited her son's reaction. The truth was, he was currently experiencing emotional overload due to this conversation with his mother, and he was feeling a mixture of thankfulness, anger, joy, and fear due to all Moira Queen's words tonight . So even though he normally would have been a lot more upset about hearing Malcolm was alive, that did not happen, because the archer did what he normally did when he couldn't handle everything being thrown at him, he choose an item to shelve for him to deal with later. The emerald archer sighed as his face took on serious expression. "Okay then. Thank you for telling me that. I don't know how Malcolm could still be alive after I shoved an arrow through his chest, but if you say the man is back and trying to go after my sister, then I believe you. But as much as that concerns me, and believe me, that bothers me a lot, I have to focus my team's energies on beating Slade now, do you understand? I can only deal with one problem, one nemesis, at a time. We will find Malcolm and deal with him after I deal with Slade." The blonde man's tone made it clear that his words were a promise.

Moira nodded. "I understand. Just be on your guard in the meantime. I will tell Thea the same thing."

A clearly exhausted Oliver Queen sighed and nodded. "Are there any other earth shattering revelations you would like to stuff into this 24 hour period? I don't think it's quite been that long since you told me about Isabel's history with my father."

Moira shook her head. "No, Oliver. I think that I've unloaded enough secrets on you for one day. But I do have one piece of motherly advice for you. Get some sleep. You look exhausted, and even heroes need to rest eventually." Without another word, Moira Queen left the new Lair's training room.

Oliver nodded his head and silently acknowledged that his mother was right about one thing He was exhausted, in more ways than one. He just wasn't sure that he would be able to sleep with so much on his mind. Still, deciding that it was worth a shot, he decided to follow his mother's advice and walked towards the men's dormitory after he had cleaned up the training room.

* * *

><p>Half an hour later…<p>

Oliver Queen tossed and turned in his oversized sleeping bag on the cot he had picked, the bunk closest to the only entrance to this dorm and farthest away from Roy and Diggle's beds on the other side of the room. As the archer had feared, he couldn't sleep at all, because he simply had too much on his mind right now to do so. Which was sort of ironic, really, considering that tomorrow was a Saturday, a day he wouldn't have to worry about waking up early for any reason, since he wouldn't have to work or (probably) watch over the streets until tomorrow evening.

Oliver's private musings about his sleeping habits were cut short, however, by the sound of a light pair of feet entering the room, and the archer instantly turned toward the doorway to face the unknown individual in the dark while his hand instinctively went under his bunk towards his bow and arrows.

But the blonde man's hand pulled away from his weapon when he heard the person in the doorway speak softly. "Calm down, Oliver. It's me, Isabel. I…I know I'm not supposed to be here but I'm far too hyped up to sleep and I thought…" The archer saw his co-CEO, fellow vigilante, and love interest shake her head, while he noted her uncharacteristically nervous tone of voice, which seemed to convey that Isabel was feeling more troubled and vulnerable than usual. "You know what? Never mind. This was a bad idea. I'll go now."

But Oliver's voice cut off Isabel's retreat from the room. He guessed that the brunette was probably still pretty wired from having the Mirakuru in her system being forced into her bloodstream "permanently" not three hours ago, and that was probably making it hard for her to get into a state even remotely resembling calm right now, much less sleep. So, because of that guess, and the conversation he had just had with Moira, Oliver felt absolutely no guilt due to what he did next, especially if his actions could help Isabel calm down. "No. It's okay. I can't sleep either. As long as you can keep quiet and not wake the others up. You can stay. Here."

Oliver opened up his large sleeping bag just enough for Isabel to climb into it beside him before the brunette re-zipped it and said. "Thanks. I know this is sort of breaking the rules, but… I've never been too good with rules anyway."

Oliver chuckled softly and wrapped his arm around Isabel while noting the feeling of her long red silk pajamas against his bare skin, as Oliver had elected to sleep in his underwear, an act which evidentially surprised the hazel-eyed woman, because her posture stiffened for a moment, but she quickly reciprocated the gesture with her own arm while the blonde man spoke. "Don't worry about it. I only divided the dorms up because I thought Roy might try to get in my sister's pants tonight otherwise. I know that they have been in a relationship for a while and all… I just don't want to be under the same roof as them when that happens, you know what I mean?"

Isabel chuckled back. "Not really. I've never had a younger sibling. I had an older foster brother for a while, and I got along well with him, but I only knew him for three years before…you know." Oliver just nodded before Isabel changed the subject. "Besides, the silly dorm division rule you implemented like this place was a summer camp isn't what I was referring to when I said we were breaking the rules. I meant the unspoken rule that two adults who aren't romantically involved aren't supposed to sleep in the same bed together. Not that I don't intend to keep fighting you on the choice you made without my input, for us to break up…"

Oliver interrupted Isabel while holding her closer to his body. "That isn't necessary. I just made a judgment call, Isabel. I decided that this is okay. We, the two of us, together, are okay."

Isabel turned her eyes to face Oliver's, and the archer was just able to make out Isabel's hazel orbs since his eyes had long since adjusted to the dark. The brunette spoke in an amused tone of voice. "Oh, you made a judgment call, huh? Well, that's great for you, but if we get back together, it will be because that's what we both want. So let's get that straight right now. If we are going to be in a relationship together, then we are going to make decisions together from now on, do you understand?" Oliver nodded while Isabel added. "Besides, I thought you said we were over? That we couldn't be in a relationship because of my past dealings with your family…"

Oliver shrugged. "What can I say? I was being an idiot before. Like you said, if I love you and you love me, that's something worth fighting for. And I've finally decided that I'm willing to fight for us, because you are worth it. Because I love you."

Oliver could just make out the brunette smirking as if she knew something he didn't, but it quickly turned into a smile, as she leaned her face close to his and said in a playfully teasing voice. "It took you long enough." Then Isabel pressed her lips against Oliver's and the emerald archer reciprocated the gesture, until both of their mouths were opened towards the other and their tongues met.

Oliver pulled away from Isabel after several seconds and smiled. "I was missing that! But…do you mind if we wait until we are somewhere more private before we do anything else? Besides, I'm kind of exhausted right now, and I do need to get some sleep…"

Isabel grinned. "Sure, that seems reasonable. I should probably try to sleep too."

Oliver nodded his head, grinned back at Isabel, and closed his eyes, just as the brunette hit the blonde man in the shoulder just hard enough that it hurt, but not hard enough to leave a bruise, causing the blonde billionaire to open his eyes and exclaim in a volume that was just barely too soft to wake Roy and Diggle. "Ow! What was that for?!"

Isabel smirked. "That was for unilaterally breaking up with me last night without taking what I wanted into account. And by the way, if you try to do that to me again, I will kick your ass!"

Oliver nodded. "Noted. And I suppose I deserved that. Still, don't I get credit for saying we could get back together as well?"

Isabel smiled and whispered into her boyfriend's (for that is how Isabel thought of him now, and nobody, not even Oliver himself, would convince her any differently) ear. "Sure, but as you said, the make-up sex will have to wait till later". Isabel grinned in response to the smile on Oliver's own face and said. "Good night, Oliver."

Oliver pulled Isabel's body even closer to his own as he wrapped the brunette up in an embrace. "Good night, Isabel."

**AN: And thus, another chapter ends! I apologize if this chapter, and the one that will follow it on my next post, are not as dramatic (and, for this particular chapter, as long as) some of my previous chapters, but I will soon be in circumstances in which I will be unable to access the internet for a while. So I just wanted to post something for my readers before I have to take that break from posting!**

** In any case, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and please don't hesitate to leave a review to let me know what you think! A big thank you goes out to my readers, especially those of you who have given me input on my story, and an even bigger thank you goes out to my beta reader! Until next time, I am…**

**-supercode**


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